


Golden Spyral

by NinjaGogeta



Category: Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: And ninjas, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Naruto uses SPYRALs, swidt?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26732938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaGogeta/pseuds/NinjaGogeta
Summary: Three years ago, Uzumaki Naruto was found unconscious with a hole in his shirt and a gap in his memories. Three years later he now attends Duel Academia, with the intention of becoming a Pro Duelist and paying back those who have helped him. But dark forces gather: The Stars are coming, and one of them seems to know Naruto better than he knows himself! Naruto x Asuka pairing.
Relationships: Uzumaki Naruto/Alexis Rhodes, Uzumaki Naruto/Tenjoin Asuka
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One—The Name is Naruto—Uzumaki Naruto!

The Duel Academia exams were underway.

Well, to be more specific, they were halfway done with. A week before the written exam had been held in a KaibaCorp facility, and dozens of markers were hired by Kaiba to score the examinees as quick as possible. With this done, those who passed the written exam were given an invitation for the practical exam at Kaiba Land.

As the first few potentials duelled their proctors, a young man sat in the stands, his fingers tapping on his crossed arms. It was all he could do to sit still, he was quaking so much. Another young man noticed his shaking.

"Yeah, this is pretty nerve racking, huh?" The short boy fiddled with his glasses, glancing back at the duel field as already a couple of duels had finished. Judging from the downcast looks on their faces, they hadn't gone well. The boy gulped, "I barely passed the written exam, so I'm really worried that I might fail this one."

The shaking teen looked at his shorter companion. He blinked, "Nervous? I'm not nervous at all!"

"Huh?"

"I'm shaking with excitement!" The bright grin nearly blinded the shorter boy.

"R-Really?" He wilted, staring at the floor with a sigh, "You must have gotten a great score to be so confident."

Before the other could respond, a voice rang out over the intercom. "Could Examinee #119, Marufuji Shou, please make his way to the duel field."

"Well, that's me." Shou said, standing up as the intercom repeated the message. "I guess your duel won't be until much later, huh?"

Yet again, the other boy was cut off before he could reply. "Could Examinee #118, Uzumaki Naruto, please make his way to the duel field."

"One-hundred-and-eighteen!" Shou gasped, staring at the other boy, mouth agape. As the other stood, Shou realised that he was way taller than he was. "Your score is barely any better than mine! How can you be so confident!?"

"Easy." Naruto grinned down at Shou and punched his palm. "Cus I'm gonna be the next Duel King!" And with that, he strode down the stairs, walking straight passed the stunned Shou.

"So confident…"

"Would Examinee #119 PLEASE make their way down to the duel field!"

"Wah! I'm coming!"

Above the stands were many teenagers, standing behind a railing to watch the practical exam. These teens were already in their uniforms, a mix of blue and white jackets, some mostly blue, and a few mostly white. Two such teens stood side by side; one of them perked up as she heard the announcements. She shook her head.

"No wonder he didn't want to tell me his score. One-hundred-and-eighteen after all that studying?"

"I doubt you need to worry about him." The boy next to her said. He was both taller and older than the girl, and you could say, at a stretch, that he resembled Shou. "His skills are the real deal, even if his grades are lacking."

"Wow, a compliment from you? That's rare."

"People rarely deserve them."

"What about your brother?"

"…"

"Well, guess we'll see."

* * *

"Alright, #118, this'll be pretty straightforward. All you have to do is win this duel and you'll be in the running for a spot at Duel Academia." A woman in a dark blue jacket explained, holding her duel disk at chest height. "Best of luck."

"Heh, thanks, but I don't need luck! I've got this in the bag!" Naruto said, readying his own duel disk with a grin.

The woman's lips lifted a little. "Well, aren't you confident? Let's see how well-founded that is, shall we?"

"DUEL!"

"I'll go first," the Proctor said, drawing a card. "Since this is a test, let's see how you respond to this. I summon Beautiful Headhuntress in attack mode." A woman with dark blue hair dressed in a light blue kimono appeared on the field, grasping a gigantic sword in hand as if it weighed nothing.

**#Beautiful Headhuntress—Warrior—1600/800#**

"Then I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Alright, my turn, draw!" Naruto pulled the top card from his deck and grinned. "Alright, it's one of my favourites! I summon SPYRAL Gear – Drone in attack mode." A high-tech looking drone appeared, hovering at Naruto's eye level.

**#SPYRAL Gear – Drone—Machine—100/100#**

Despite trying to maintain a professional neutrality, the Proctor's brows rose. "I understand that your confident kid, but this is too much. That thing only has 100 attack points."

"Yeah, that's true, but I didn't summon it for its attack points. I summoned it for its effect! When my Drone is summoned, I can look at the top three cards of your deck."

The woman gasped as the drone flew over to her and little arms extended from its 'head'. It drew the first three cards from her deck and flew back over to Naruto. He took them from the machine and looked them over. "Once I've done that, I can put them back in whatever order I want." He re-arranged them and gave them back to the drone, which flew back over to the Proctor and put them back. It then returned to Naruto's side.

"Ok, but what was the point of that?"

Naruto rubbed his nose, still grinning, "Well, now I can activate an effect in my hand. See, I get to declare one card type, and if the top card of your deck is one of those cards, then I can special summon a certain monster from my hand."

The Proctor gasped. "But, you already know what the top card of my deck is!"

"Yup! So, if I were to say that the top card of your deck was a spell card…"

The Proctor drew the card and looked at it, and sighed before revealing it to be a Polymerization, "Then you'd be right."

"Yup! So, say hello to another one of my favourites; my SPYRAL Super Agent!" A well-dressed man with a briefcase in hand appeared on the field.

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

The Proctor eyed the monster up. 'That's a decent amount of attack points. Of course,' Her eyes wandered down to her face down card, 'this trap card should deal with that.'

"Now, the other effect of my SPYRAL Super Agent activates."

The Proctor looked up, "It has another effect?"

"Yup! When my SPYRAL Super Agent is special summoned by a SPYRAL card, I can target one spell or trap card you control and destroy it!"

"Oh no!" She watched as the Agent pulled out a gun and shot her face-down card. It flipped up to reveal Mask of Weakness before shattering.

"And I'm not done yet, because I activate my SPYRAL Gear – Drone's other effect as well. By tributing it, I can increase my SPYRAL Super Agent's attack by 500 for each card you control! One card means an extra 500 attack points!"

SPYRAL Gear – Drone faded away, and SPYRAL Super Agent grew a bit bigger.

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—2400/1200#**

"SPYRAL Super Agent, attack her Beautiful Headhuntress!" The debonair man ran towards the beautiful swordswoman. She swung her blade, but he deflected it with his briefcase, which he then slammed into her head, causing her to shatter to pieces with a cry.

**#Naruto—4000#**

**#Proctor—3200#**

"I set one card face down and end my turn."

"My turn, draw!"

"I activate my trap card, Mind Crush!"

"Huh?"

Naruto grinned, rubbing his nose as he explained. "Mind Crush lets me declare a card, and if you have that card in your hand, then it goes to the graveyard! I choose Polymerization!"

The Proctor clicked her tongue as she sent the card she just drew to the graveyard. "You may have gotten rid of my Polymerization, but it wasn't the spell card you should have picked! I play the spell card Fissure! This card destroys the monster on the field with the lowest attack points, and seeing as your SPYRAL Super Agent is the only monster..."

"No! My Agent!" Naruto watched as his SPYRAL Super Agent fell through a crack in the ground. The gap closed, and a muffled shattering could be heard. "Damn it!"

"Next I summon Hibikime in attack position." Another woman with dark blue hair appeared on the field, this one wearing a green dress and holding a giant musical note. Naruto couldn't help but notice that the top looked sharp as hell.

**#Hibikime—Warrior—1450/1000#**

"Hibikime, attack his life points directly!"

"Eek!" Naruto flinched as the female monster slashed him with her scythe-like musical note.

**#Naruto—2550#**

**#Proctor—3200#**

"I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Urgh, he was getting cocky." The girl sighed, resting her elbow on the railing.

The boy said nothing as he watched his little brother get hit directly by a giant worm monster.

"He always gets cocky."

"Geeze, I better recover from this." Naruto muttered, looking at his duel disk. "Asuka-chan will kick my ass if I lose." Shuddering at that image, he drew a card. Looking at it, his grin returned, "Nice! I play the equip spell card SPYRAL Gear – Big Red! This card lets me choose one SPYRAL monster in my graveyard and special summon it to the field!"

The Proctor frowned. "Let me guess, your SPYRAL Super Agent."

"Yup!" In a flash of light, a red sports card came into view. Sitting in the driver's seat was SPYRAL Super Agent, gripping the wheel with a charming grin. "And since my SPYRAL Super Agent was special summoned by a SPYRAL card—"

"Before you do that, I'll activate my trap card; Fusion Reserve! By revealing one fusion monster in my fusion deck, I can add one of the materials listed on that card and add it to my hand from my deck."

Naruto huffed, but watched as she revealed Empress Judge in her extra deck. 'Damn, now I don't know what the next card in her deck is going to be. Since she's added a card from her deck to her hand, her deck gets shuffled.'

"Next, I can add one Polymerization in my graveyard to my hand."

With that done, SPYRAL Super Agent brought his gun outside the window of Big Red and shot the Fusion Reserve trap card, destroying it.

Naruto huffed again, "SPYRAL Super Agent, run her monster down!" The car's wheel span before Hibikime found herself slamming into the hood, causing her to shatter. On its way back to Naruto's side, it kicked up some virtual dust that hit the Proctor.

**#Naruto—2550#**

**#Proctor—2750#**

"I set one card face down and end my turn."

"My turn, draw! I play the spell card Pot of Greed! This card lets me draw two cards from my deck." The Proctor drew the two cards. "Next I play The Warrior Returning Alive. I can select one warrior monster in my graveyard and add it to my hand. I choose Hibikime. Next, I play the spell card Polymerization!"

"I chain my trap card! Cloak and Dagger!"

"What?" The Proctor's eyes widened.

"I declare one monster name, and if that monster is summoned, it and this card are both removed from play." Naruto grinned. "Thanks for showing me it; I choose Empress Judge!"

"Grk!" The Proctor grit her teeth as she was forced to resolve her Polymerization, now that she had activated it. And with only one option available to her… "I fuse Hibikime and Queen's Double in my hand to summon Empress Judge."

Empress Judge was a dark-skinned woman with red hair and purple face tattoos. As soon as she appeared, however, a red dot sight appeared on her forehead and with a bang her head flew back. Empress Judge vanished before her body could hit the floor, and Cloak and Dagger faded away.

The Proctor looked down to two cards left in her hand. 'Sonic Maid and a De-Fusion spell…useless in this situation, but let's see how he handles a bluff.' "I summon Sonic Maid in defence mode." The monster that appeared looked just like Hibikime, only with a palette swap.

**#Sonic Maid—Warrior—1200/900#**

"Next I set one card face down and end my turn."

"My turn, draw!" Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the card he drew. 'Perfect!' He looked at another card in his hand and got the same sense of nostalgia as he did every other time he saw it. 'This might not fit with my SPYRALs that much, but even so, this works perfectly.'

"I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke in attack mode." A ninja with a blue ponytail and a white mask appeared on the field, wielding two kunai.

**#Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke—Warrior—1800/1000#**

The Proctor raised a brow. "Is that all? Because even if you destroy my monster, you don't have enough attack points to finish me off."

Naruto grinned. "Maybe not right now, but that's why I'm gonna play this spell card; Monster Reborn!"

"Monster Reborn?" The Proctor's eyes widened. "Oh no!"

"I summon SPYRAL Gear – Drone in defence mode!"

**#SPYRAL Gear – Drone—Machine—100/100#**

"I won't be activating his first effect, because its his second that I'm interested in! By tributing SPYRAL Gear – Drone, my SPYRAL Super Agent gains 500 attack for every card you control. This time it's two, so that means…"

"1000 attack points!"

"Guess that's why you're the Proctor!"

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—2900/1200#**

The Proctor, said nothing further, wondering what he would do next. She glanced at her face down card, before quickly looking back to Naruto. He still had one card left in his hand. Would he play a spell/trap destruction card, or would he be cautious and not attack? 'Or perhaps, that was why he summoned Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke? On the off chance that I have another card like Mask of Weakness, Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke can ignore points and just destroy a defence position monster when it battles one. It would definitely increase his chances of success...'

"Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, attack her Sonic Maid!" The ninja leapt into the air and threw his kunai at Sonic Maid, causing her to explode. "And now SPYRAL Super Agent, finish her off! Big Red Drift!" SPYRAL Super Agent drove towards the Proctor and before he could hit her, performed a perfect drift, leaving only the virtual dirt and gravel kicked up by the tires to hit the Proctor. She covered her face as her life points dropped.

'Looks like I was right! Even though I didn't activate my supposed trap card on Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, he still attacked with his other monster! Instincts, the sense to prepare for any outcome, and the courage to attack when needed; this one will go far!'

**#Naruto—2550#**

**#Proctor—0#**

"Hell yeah! Who's the man!" Naruto threw his hands in the air, waving to an audience that were somewhat interested in his duel.

"That guy's pretty good."

"Yeah, what do you think, Manjoume-san?"

"Please, he's nothing. There's no way that someone with a score like that will be anything more than an Osiris Red. And it's not like beating am exam deck is anything special. He's not even worth my time."

"I guess we'll have to wait for #1 for anyone worthwhile, then."

The girl sighed, slumping ever so slightly in relief. "Thank goodness he passed. Guess I was worried about nothing. Still," she narrowed her eyes and cracked her knuckles, "I think I should have a word with him about his written exam score."

Down in the field, Naruto's waving paused for a full body shiver.

"I told you, Asuka. His skill speaks for itself." The tall boy said, watching as his younger brother barely finished his own duel. "Besides, if these applicants can't even beat these test decks, they have no place at Duel Academia."

"Harsh, but true, I guess."

"Heh heh." Naruto was back to grinning and waving.

"Well done, #118." The Proctor said, regaining Naruto's attention. She had a slight smile as she powered down her duel disk. "With skills like those you could get into Obelisk Blue one day. Not to mention at the end there with my face down; good instincts, the courage to make your move, and the foresight to prepare for as many variables as possible are all the signs of a great duellist. Just make sure to get your grades caught up with the rest of your skills."

"Grades?" Naruto froze, a pallid expression crossing his face. "Oh man, Asuka-chan is gonna kill me now she's heard my score." Sweat poured down his face. In his panic he completely forgot everything she said beforehand.

The Proctor hid a small laugh behind her hand. "Sounds like you really care about this Asuka's opinion."

"More like I'm scared of her wrath." He muttered, looking shiftily off to the side. "I just know that she'll make me study more than ever now."

"Sounds like she's got your best interests in mind." The Proctor said, and Naruto got the feeling he was being chided a little. "Make sure you don't take her feelings for granted."

Naruto looked down, eyes solemn. "Yeah, she and her family have done a lot for me." He looked back up, eyes now blazing with determination. "Trust me, the last thing I ever want to do is take her, or them, for granted. I'll make sure to pay them back for everything."

"I see." She gave him a full smile. "Then I wish the best for your time at Duel Academia. And best of luck with Asuka-san."

"Hee, thanks, I'll need it when she gets hold of me, ha ha!" He rubbed the back of his head with a grin.

'He's utterly oblivious, huh?' The woman sweat-dropped. 'Maybe I should be wishing her good luck instead…'

Shou sighed as he sat back down in his seat. "Oh man, that was a close one. That Proctor was tough."

"Hey, Shou right?"

"Huh?" Shou looked up to see Naruto approaching. "Oh, Uzumaki-san! Did you win?"

"Yup!" Naruto dropped into a seat next to him. "She got me that one time, but I pulled it back quick enough!"

"Wow, sounds like you had it easy." Shou sighed, slumping over. "I barely won my duel. I wonder if they'll even let me in…"

"Hey, you still won right?" Naruto grinned and folded his arms behind his head. "I used to lose loads of times—I used to duel against two of the best duellists I've ever met, they always whooped me." He closed his eyes and tilted his head, screwing his face up in thought. "Not really sure what that has to do with it…" He shrugged. "Eh, anyway, a win's a win, right?"

"I guess…" Shou muttered.

"Excuse me, Uzumaki, was it?"

"Hm?" Naruto looked over to see a boy his age with black hair approach him. The teen extended a hand out to shake.

"My name is Misawa Daichi, and can I say that your duel was rather impressive. The way you dealt with that bluff at the end was particularly good. Even though it had been a bluff, the fact that you had a potential counter in mind for a possible repeat of a Mask of Weakness-like card was astounding."

Naruto blinked, before grinning and slapping the hand with his own. "Heh, thanks! I'd say the same but you ain't duelled yet. What number are you, anyway?" He asked, trying to shift attention away from Misawa's second statement. 'I totally forgot about that face down! Thank kami it was a bluff! And what does he mean by a potential counter?' He let out a nervous chuckle. 'Eh, I'll just let him think what he wants.'

Removing his hand, and shaking it to ease the stinging pain, Misawa gave a small smirk. "Actually, I'm #1."

"Wow, really?!" Shou exclaimed, staring with wide eyes. "You're the top scorer!"

"Indeed." Misawa nodded, before looking back to Naruto. "I was impressed that someone with such a low score did so well in that duel. Your tactics are quite interesting."

Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, me and tests don't get on. But just because I don't get good grades, doesn't mean I can't duel."

"Trust me, you don't need to convince me of that." Misawa said, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Still, I've been hoping for some good rivals at Duel Academia, and I'm glad to see I won't be disappointed. I look forward to creating a deck to duel your own."

"I'm always up for a challenge." Naruto said, his grin growing. "That goes for you, too." He said, turning to Shou, who yelped at the attention. "Any time you want to duel, just say so!"

"Erm…sure…" Shou agreed, not really meaning it.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and observe the duels until my turn. I'd like to see if there's anymore competition out there for being number one." Misawa turned to leave, but Naruto grabbed his arm.

"Hey, no need to be all cold and distant, sit with us." Naruto waved at the seat next to him, letting go of Misawa's arm to do so. "I wanna watch too, so why not do it with like minds."

The #1 considered it for a moment. "Would that be all right?" Misawa finally said, looking to Shou.

"E-Erm, yeah, sure, why not…" Shou didn't really have a problem with it. He just wasn't used to people wanting his opinion.

"Alright, I don't see why not." Misawa took the seat next to Naruto and stared at an ongoing duel. "I suppose it would be nice to have some company while I'm here."

"Exactly! Being alone sucks." Naruto said, with a certainty that came from experience. "By the way, just call me Naruto." The other two nodded, Shou being more reluctant that Misawa. As the three fell into silence to watch the duels, Naruto tried to spot Asuka in the arena. Spotting Asuka was usually easy; just look for the largest boobs and you'd find her. Those things had certainly been a surprise a couple of years ago, that was for sure.

Finally, he spotted her, and he wasn't so shocked to see her standing next to Ryo. Now that he thought about it, something about his surname was bugging Naruto.

"Hmm…" Naruto scratched his head, but just couldn't think of it.

"Yes, that was a rather suspect choice." Misawa nodded, staring at one of the duels. "Personally, I would have used Rush Recklessly during the battle phase rather than the main phase."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked, looking down at the duel in question. "Well that was dumb."

Shou said nothing, having thought it had been a good move until Misawa spoke.

"Looks like he's making friends already." Asuka nodded in Naruto's direction. "Hey, isn't that your brother?"

"Yes." Ryo nodded, actually looking a little pleased. "Naruto would be a good influence on Shou."

"Look at you, you do care." Asuka said, grinning a little.

"Pot, kettle."

"I make no secret of it."

"Which is why Naruto has noticed."

Her cheeks went the slightest bit red. "There's nothing to notice." It went away as a sombre expression took form, "Besides, we've got other things to worry about right now."

Ryo said nothing, just looked back down.

Taking another glance at Naruto getting along with some boys his age, Asuka smiled, before returning her attention to the field.

At that same same moment, a certain teen was running as fast as he could to make it to the exam on time. Or rather, to try and not be any later than he already was…

Chapter End


	2. Roommates? More Like Gloommates!

Chapter Two—Roommates? More Like Gloommates!

_"Hey, are you okay?"_

_The boy groaned, lifting his head from the hard gravel to see who was talking to him. A young girl was leaning over him, her large hazel eyes full of worry. Despite his hunger, or the pain all over his body, only one thought came to mind._

"… _Pretty…"_

_The girl's cheeks went red, but it vanished once the boy's eyes started to close again, "Hey, wake up! Hey wa—nii-san! Over here! I think he's hurt!"_

_He faded out of consciousness, the sounds of her frantic calls for help slowly muting._

Naruto jerked awake as he was bumped in the shoulder by his neighbour. With a grunt he pushed the guy back, wondering why he was getting in his space.

"Hey, stop it! Look, we're here!"

Naruto stopped pushing and followed his line of sight. The sound of whirring helicopter blades suddenly registered as he saw the sky fly past the window. Rapidly approaching was an island that could only be the home of Duel Academia. Naruto was now wide awake as he stared at the campus with a grin.

'Man, it's unfair that Asuka-chan got to come here early!' Going to the academies prep school clearly had its advantages. Not to mention that all the girls apparently got into Obelisk Blue by default, meaning they all went over early regardless. 'She's probably already set up in her dorm. Wonder what mine will be like.' Soon enough, though, his excitement dulled. 'This is the place that Fubuki-nii disappeared…I'll definitely find out what happened!' Eyes blazing with determination, Naruto kept his gaze on the academy as the helicopter came in to land.

After getting changed into the uniforms provided for them—Naruto wearing a red jacket, himself—the new students gathered for the induction speech. Looking around, Naruto couldn't help but wonder why there were Blue students amongst the Reds and Yellows, but he shrugged. Thinking about that would just be too annoying. He also noticed that their numbers had been cut down from over a hundred to about thirty. Naruto gulped; now he was really glad he aced the practical.

Naruto's thoughts came to a halt as the giant screen on the wall before them turned on. A bald man with a beard appeared on screen with a jovial smile.

"Welcome, my duellist elite. You all made it here by opening our narrow gate with your skill."

Naruto yawned, not bothering to hide it, earning an annoyed look from a Blue next to him.

"Please enjoy your studies, and dream of becoming the future King of Duellists."

Naruto smirked, punching his palm and gripping his fist. He fully intended on doing so. Sure, he might only need to become a pro, but why not be the best pro out there if he was going for it anyway.

Soon enough the speech was over, and each student was handed a PDA. They were told that all the information they needed to know while at Duel Academia was on the device, and they were strongly suggested to familiarise themselves with the rules.

Naruto fiddled with his, trying to figure out how to work it. His ability with technology was, in a word, lacking. He could just about get his duel disk to work, never mind this thing. He eventually gave up and just decided to ask Asuka about it later.

Looking up from his PDA, he noticed that he was the only one left in the room. He left, wondering where the hell he was meant to go next. Fortunately, it did not take long to find a familiar face.

"Hey, Daichi!"

Misawa Daichi blinked, not expecting to be addressed by his first name. Most people considered it too boring and called him Misawa instead. Still, he wasn't opposed to it. "Ah, Naruto, good to see you again." Technically he had seen him when they boarded the helicopter, but they had been on opposite sides, and they didn't get much chance to speak between arriving and now. He looked down at his uniform. "I see you're in Slifer Red."

Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, guess it didn't matter how well I did on the practical if my written score was so bad." The two started walking again without consciously deciding their direction. "Looks like I need to catch up with you." He nodded at Misawa's uniform.

"Yes, I was quite proud to have learned I would be in Ra Yellow. I've heard it's the highest you can get upon enrolling without having connections, attending prep school, or being female." Misawa shook his head. "I don't understand how simply being a girl can get you straight into Obelisk Blue. You would think that Kaiba Seto would have enough money to create multiple female dorms."

"Eh, maybe he's secretly a cheap skate." Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "Still, I'm not really fussed about being in Red. I'll join you in Yellow quick enough, you watch."

"Hm, glad to hear it." Misawa said, giving Naruto a small smirk. "Though you'll have to increase those grades of yours exponentially. That or make a big enough splash that the faculty will decide that you're good enough."

"Probably the second one," Naruto said without shame. "I mean, I know all the stuff, but I just hate being in a classroom. I get all jittery and can't sit still."

"Well, if you ever want any help with studying, you can always ask me. It would be helpful for me to go over the material with someone else."

"Er…I'll think about it." Naruto wasn't going to say it, but if he was going to have private lessons with anyone, it would be Asuka. That thought gave Naruto pause. "Though, if you really wanna help, you can show me how to work this thing." He pulled out his PDA and waved it around. "Ain't got a clue how to work it. I was gonna ask a friend of mine to help me, but I just realised I have no idea where she is."

"She?" Misawa latched onto that first, before putting it aside for now. "Well, I suppose so, here, pass it over."

* * *

"Oh, so that opens this."

"Yes. This map should help you find your way around. And this—right there, yes that's it—this is so you can send messages to other devices. Here, I'll put my details in and show you."

The two had reached the entrance to the building and were stood just inside the doors. Since they didn't really have anything to get to anytime soon, Misawa was taking the time to ensure Naruto knew what he was doing.

Hearing Misawa's device respond to the message Misawa sent himself, Naruto let out a drawn out "Oh" in response. "I think I get it now."

"I'm glad. Just be sure to read the file containing the Academia's rules. You don't want to get expelled before you can be promoted."

"Er, yeah, sure." Naruto looked away, stretching his arms out. "I guess I should go check out my dorm, see where I'll be staying at."

Misawa nodded, "Yes, I'll do the same. I need to see just how much space I'll have to work with."

The two left the building, and they heard two familiar voices talking. Naruto grinned at seeing his two other new friends, both of which seemed to be in the same dorm as him.

Naruto paused for a moment, letting Misawa walk on ahead, as he reminisced on meeting the boy sitting with Sho.

* * *

_Naruto and Shou sat, watching Misawa as he was seemingly backed into a corner during his duel. He only had Vorse Raider out on the field, while the Proctor had two monsters with super high defence points in defence mode. However, Misawa had a face down as well as his monster._

" _Wow, look at them go at it!"_

_Naruto and Shou turned around to see who was yelling. A boy with brown hair was leaning over their heads as he leaned forward to get a better look at the duel. They both looked back as the duel continued._

" _No matter how elite you may be," his Proctor said, standing quite confidently behind his wall of monsters, "in the face of my hyper-defence deck, you won't be able to chip away at my life points any further."_

_Misawa was silent for a moment. Then, "I activate my trap card, Ring of Destruction!"_

_Naruto grinned as the Proctor gasped in shock. "Nice."_

" _This trap card destroys one face up monster on the field, dealing damage equal to its attack points to both of us." As Misawa explained it, a ring with grenades poking out of it appeared around Vorse Raider's neck. Vorse raider exploded, brining the Proctor's life points down to zero, while Misawa was left with thirteen-hundred._

" _Exam duel complete," the Proctor said, any cockiness or taunting gone now the test was over. "Congratulations, you won."_

_Misawa gave a respectful bow, "Thank you very much."_

" _He had a great combo, huh?" The new boy said, folding his arms._

" _Of course he did," Shou said, craning his neck around again, earning the boy's attention. "That Examinee #1. In other words, the one who placed highest on the written exam. That's Misawa."_

_The boy made a noise of realisation. "So that's what the exam numbers mean?"_

" _They determine who gets in based on written score and your duel. I managed to win my duel, but I'm Examinee #119, so I don't know if they'll let me in or nor…"_

_Naruto opened his mouth to reassure him again, the other boy beat him to it._

" _Don't worry about it," he said, slapping Shou on the back. If you're lucky you'll pass. Look at me. I'm #110."_

" _You're an examinee too?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _Well that ain't good." Naruto said, finally interjecting himself into the conversation. "The 100s have already duelled earlier."_

" _Eh!?"_

" _Well, maybe they'll make an exception," Naruto offered, grinning nervously. "I mean, better late than never, right?"_

" _Well, I did sign in just in time," the boy said, scratching his hair. He shrugged, an easy-going grin forming. "I'm sure it'll work out fine."_

_As he said this, Misawa finally returned, taking off his duel disk as he sat down._

" _Nice duel there, Misawa," Naruto said, punching Misawa on the shoulder. "That guy sure got cocky, ha ha!" He laughed, ignoring his own hyprocisy._

" _Yeah, you're really good!" The new boy said, getting Misawa's attention as he rubbed his shoulder._

" _Yeah," Misawa said, closing his eyes._

" _I'd say you're good enough to be number 2 among this year's examinees."_

" _Huh?" Three voices harmonised as they looked at the boy._

" _ **Examinee #110, Yuki Judai-kun**_ _."_

" _All right!" Judai said, grinning in excitement. "It's my turn!"_

" _You…" Misawa said, making Judai pause on his way down. "Why do you think I'm number 2?"_

_Judai pointed at himself with his thumb. "Because I'm number 1."_

_Misawa let out a light gasp as Judai carried on._

_Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. "Geeze, he says that without even seeing me duel." He pouted, looking rather petulant._

" _His written exam score was only nine places above mine," said Shou, quietly. "How can he be so confident?"_

" _You're too stuck on those numbers, Sho," Naruto said, no longer pouting, but staring at Judai's back. "Sitting in a classroom is a whole different thing to reality. Besides, those questions were about stuff like 'What does this card do', or 'If this card destroyed this face up attack monster, how many life points are lost'. Remembering stuff, doing maths; that stuff is on the cards already, and the duel disk takes care of that crap. Anyone can throw a rock at something, but how many people can figure out what angle it'll be moving at? What does it matter, if the rock still hits the target? You don't need complex thought patterns for that. Knowing theory and stuff is cool and all, but if you choke in the moment and can't do anything with it? That's what's more important; how you deal with what you're facing in the moment."_

_Naruto could feel the eyes of the other two on him after his sudden monologue, but he kept his own on the duel field._

" _I mean, don't get me wrong, knowing stuff is great, it's why we want to get in, to learn how to be better duellists and learn more about the game. I'm just saying, you can't judge someone by their grades all the time. Maybe they just ain't figured out what works best for them. And that Judai guy? I reckon he's long since figure out what works best for him."_

* * *

Looking back, Naruto was glad the duel started when he did, because he had been talking out of his ass the whole time and was running out of things to say. Not that he didn't believe what he was saying; Judai's undeniable victory against the Academia's overseer of practical training more than proved it, if you asked him. It's just that he was glad his stream of consciousness ended before he stopped making even a little sense.

Even now, he's not sure why he got so passionate over the whole thing. Maybe because of how Shou was writing people off, himself included, based on their scores. The underestimation lit something within Naruto, something that felt familiar, but nothing he could put a name to.

Ultimately, Judai proved that he wasn't someone to take lightly just because he had low grades. Something that Naruto could relate to. But some other part of him was just the slightest bit irritated. Judai got to duel a high-profile member of the staff and proved his skills to everyone present, in a situation where every eye was on him. Naruto couldn't help but feel that his own incredibly victory had been overshadowed.

He was pretty sure that he could have beaten Cronos as well, given the chance.

Regardless, none of that took away from Naruto's respect for the guy, and he couldn't wait to get a chance to duel him. With that in mind, Naruto moved on to join the conversation.

"It's a mystery to me why you're Red." He heard Misawa say.

Judai seemed to get pretty miffed. "I don't think I like the way you said that!"

"Yeah, Daichi, how come you never said that to me!"

"Oh, Naruto-san!" Shou said, the three of them turning to see Naruto join them. "You're in Red too!"

"Oh, so you're here too, Naruto." Judai grinned, forgetting his annoyance.

"You were pretty quick yourself to point out that you would join me soon enough," Misawa reminded him. He then turned to Judai. "Goodbye, number 1." He nodded bye to Naruto and Shou too.

Judai laughed as he left. "Well, same to you. Work hard and don't get too down."

Misawa stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "That's right… Your dorm is over there." He used his thumb to point behind him. He kept on walking, and the three Reds turned to each other.

"Well, I was just on my way to check it out," Naruto said, nodding in the direction that Misawa pointed in. "Wanna go check it out together?"

"Sure, we're dormmates after all." Judai stood up with a grin, Shou right behind him.

* * *

"What's up with this place?" Shou said, and Naruto had to agree. "Does the Slifer Red dorm seem kind of run-down to you?"

Run-down was being somewhat polite. The place looked like a dump. Naruto was used to living somewhere a bit nicer than a mouldy looking building. The thought of where and who he used to live made him even more determined to get promoted and work towards his goal.

"You think so?" Judai looked away from his spot at the railing, having been looking at the ocean. "It has a great view, and lots of character, too!"

"That's one word for it," Naruto muttered. He nodded to Judai and Shou as they went to their dorm room and looked for his own.

Quickly finding it, he opened the door and stepped inside. He stared at the interior for a moment, feeling somewhat disheartened. There was barely enough room for one person to move around in, never mind the three that the bunkbed suggested. A long desk with two chairs rested against the opposite wall.

Sitting in said chairs were two other Slifer students, who Naruto assumed were his roommates. One had black hair that spiked at the front, and the other had purple hair with a fringe that hung over his eyes, his eyes peeking through the partings.

The two stopped their conversation to face him. "Hey, I guess you're our roommate," the black haired one said. He had a friendly, if not slightly nervous smile. "I'm Yamaguchi Yasuhiro, nice to meet you."

"Uzumaki Naruto, same," Naruto nodded, his mood rising a bit. If a guy like this was going to be his roommate, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.

Yasuhiro continued to smile, but it faltered when the other boy scoffed.

"Uzumaki, huh?" He was staring at Naruto from his hunched over sitting position. "I remember you from the exam. You beat that Proctor pretty easily, huh?"

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, what about it?"

The boy shrugged, turning his chair away slightly. "Then there's no real point in getting to know you that much. You'll be in Ra Yellow soon enough, and you'll forget all about us."

"Hey, Sumi, there's no need for that," Yasuhiro said, eyes flittering between the two. "I mean, we'll probably join him too, once we get our grades up a bit."

"A bit? Weren't you #128, Yamaguchi?" Sumi raised a brow. Yasuhiro flushed and looked away. "Don't get me wrong, I was only #125, so it's not like I have a leg to stand on. But the two of us barely even managed to win our duels, right? We just about scraped by with effect damage, right? But Uzumaki," he waved a hand at Naruto, who was looking more disgruntled the more Sumi spoke, "he not only won with a direct attack, he still had over half his life points left. He was running circles around that Proctor, countering her moves and the like. If anyone in this room, heck this dorm, is going to go into Ra Yellow, it's Uzumaki or that kid who beat Cronos-sensei. Losers like us don't stand a chance." With his piece said, Sumi fully turned around on his chair and faced the wall.

Yasuhiro's smile was long gone, and he looked at the floor with a forlorn expression. "…I did hear that Slifer was the dorm for losers and drop-outs…"

"Oi, enough of that!" Naruto said, punching his palm. Yasuhiro jumped and looked up, but Sumi stayed glaring at the wall. "You're already giving up, huh? You've barely reached the start line, and you're already throwing in the towel?"

"But, Sumi's right," Yasuhiro bemoaned. "I suck at this game."

"That's why you came to Duel Academia, right? To improve!"

"Yeah, cus they really care about us Slifer's huh?" Sumi looked over his shoulder baleful, one eyed glare. "They haven't even cleaned out the mould in our dorm, forget about helping us improve. I can already tell that we mere Slifer Reds are second class citizens at this place. Why would they even waste their time on us? We're clearly here to make the Ras and Obelisks look better."

Naruto growled, clenching his fists. "You know, Sumi, I really hate guys like you."

"Trust me, the feelings mutual." And with that, Sumi turned back to continue his staring contest with the wall.

"Oi, Yasuhiro, let's ditch this guy and go look around." Naruto looked at Yasuhiro, but he was already walking over to the beds.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just…lie down for a bit." He collapsed on the bottom bunk and turned to face the wall.

Naruto grit his teeth. "Fine; if you guys want to give up, then fine. If neither of you have the guts to even try, then I guess Slifer Red is the perfect dorm for you." He went for his bag, took out his duel disk, and left, slamming the door behind him.

Yasuhiro flinched at the sound, but Sumi just glared at the wall. He clicked his tongue, "Guys like that…I really do hate them."

Yasuhiro said nothing.

* * *

"Stupid jackass…doesn't even wanna try…jerk…" Naruto was grumbling as he stormed away from the Slifer Red dorm. The confrontation with Sumi made his brow twitch and his teeth clench just thinking about it.

The thought of just giving up after coming only this far made Naruto glare. Sure, he knew about Slifer Red's reputation for slackers and drop-outs, but he didn't think one would get that attitude on the first day of term.

"We haven't even had a class yet," Naruto said, glaring up at the sky. "Where'd he even get an attitude like that in the first place?"

"Man, Slifer's sure are pathetic, huh?"

"Yeah, totally!"

"Huh?" Naruto stopped, having heard voices from nearby. He finally took in his surroundings and saw that he was near a large body of water, which also happened to be near a fancy looking building. "Ain't this…the girl's dorm?"

Laughter could be heard and turning around Naruto saw two Obelisk Blue girls standing by an Obelisk Blue boy, the three of them laughing. The girls were attractive, one with black hair, the other with orange. The boy had blonde hair and a smug grin as he held the attentions of both girls.

"Seriously, I told those two Slifer's their place here, and did you see the looks on their faces? They looked like they were about to give up then and there!" The boy laughed, throwing his head back.

"Right? Why even apply if you're going to give up right out of the gate?" The orange one said.

"It was a bit harsh though, wasn't it?" The black haired one said, tilting her head.

"If they don't like where they are, Momoe, all they need to do is get better grades," the orange one said, waving her friends question away.

"Hah, like a Slifer slacker could get good grades!" The boy scoffed, grinning nastily. "They'll always be beneath an Obelisk Blue like me!"

Naruto listened to this all with his head hung. He may not be the smartest guy around, but he could put two and two together. He started walking over to the three. The boy was laughing again, though this time the girls were looking at him a bit strangely.

"Oi."

The boy stopped laughing, and all three Obelisks turned to face Naruto as he walked over. "Huh? Another drop-out?" The boy sneered, looking down his nose at Naruto. "What do you want, loser?"

"Those Slifer's you mentioned just now…" Naruto's head was still low, his hair shadowing his eyes.

"Huh? You friends with those losers or something?"

"No, not really," Naruto looked up, intense blue staring at the Obelisk. "But I don't appreciate jackasses like you picking on others. What, does putting other people down get you off, or something?"

The boy scoffed. "Or something. People like you Slifer Reds need to be put in your place. If you were worth anyone's time, then you'd at the very least be in Ra Yellow, minimum."

Naruto's brow twitched.

"What, you don't like to hear the truth?" The Obelisk boy stepped closer, smug smirk getting smugger and smirkier.

"Nah, what I don't like is assholes like you going out of your way to make other people feel like shit." Sumi's bitter glare and Yasuhiro's nervous smile slipping from his face flashed through Naruto's mind. "Just because they're in a different dorm, you decided to ruin their days."

The Obelisk boy scoffed. "If a few words is all it takes to make those losers feel bad, then they deserve to be in Slifer Red."

Naruto flinched as his own words echoed in his mind.

" _Fine; if you guys want to give up, then fine. If neither of you have the guts to even try, then I guess Slifer Red is the perfect dorm for you."_

'If Sumi ran into this guy, no wonder he's so bitter already.' Naruto pushed down his own sudden guilt. While what he said wasn't necessarily untrue, the words must have been especially hurtful after having met this guy.

"So how about you run along and be the loser you really are."

"Oi, Takada, aren't being a bit too harsh?" the orange girl finally said, looking at him with a raised brow. The other girl, Momoe, nodded silently.

Takada raised his own incredulous brow at them "Seriously?"

"So, Takada, huh?" Naruto said, crossing his arms. "How about you put your money where your mouth is."

"Huh?" Takada blinked.

"You and me, we duel. Now." Naruto held up his duel disk, eyeing the one on Takada's arm.

"What? Me, an Obelisk Blue Elite, duel a Slifer drop-out like you?" Takada laughed. Hard. "Li-Like you're even worth my time!"

"Oh, but Sumi and Yasuhiro were? I was, when you were just running your mouth off? So, it's fine when we don't fight back, but the second we take out our decks, you don't wanna know? What, you scared?"

Takada stopped laughing. His brow started to twitch, and his lip curled. "Me? Scared? Of some Slifer nobody?"

"Oi, you really want to do this?" The orange girl asked, putting her hand on her hip.

"Junko's right," Momoe said. "Takada may be a jerk ("Hey!") but he's still an Obelisk Blue.

Naruto smirked at them. "Don't worry about me. I may suck at schoolwork, but I know how to play the game. So, what do you say, Takada?"

Takada trembled with rage. "…All right, you little shit stain. Let's do this."

The two of them got into position, turning on their duel disks.

"Prepare to be destroyed, Slifer!"

"Bring it on you prick!"

"DU—"

"What's going on here?"

"Wha?"

"Huh?"

"Asuka-san!" Junko said, her and Momoe turning to face the girl who just arrived on the scene.

"Tenjoin?" Takada blushed, staring at her chest more than her face.

"Asuka-chan?" Naruto blinked.

"Asuka-chan!?" Takara roared, tearing his eyes away from Asuka's girls. "Who gave you the right to talk to Tenjoin in that way!?"

"That would be me." Asuka said, firm, as she approached the two. She gave Takada the stink eye. "What's going on here…what was your name again?"

Takada spluttered. "T-Takada! Takada Junjirou!" Her annoyed expression didn't gain any clarity. "We were at prep school together for three years!"

"Huh." She gave it some more thought, before shrugging it off. She looked to Naruto. "Was this guy giving you trouble, Naruto?"

Naruto opened his mouth, but Takada cut in. "Me giving him trouble!? He's the one who came over, shooting his mouth off at me!"

"Only because he's a total jackass!" Naruto said, giving Takada a nasty look. It was returned twofold.

Asuka sighed, pinching the space between her eyebrows. "The first day and you're already picking a fight, Naruto?" She glared at Takada. "What did you do?"

"Why do you assume I did something!?"

"Because Naruto may be a hot-headed idiot ("Hey!"), but he's not the kind of guy to just go picking fights just because." Takada went to complain, but Asuka shouldered through his attempt. "Aside from that, this isn't any time to be duelling. The dorm welcoming parties are going to begin soon."

Takada huffed and turned off his duel disk. "Fine, I'll just teach this slacker a lesson some other time." And with that, Takada stormed away, his mutterings audible but incomprehensible.

"Yeah, well, not if I teach it to you first!" Naruto yelled after him. He even shook his fist.

"Honestly, Naruto," Asuka sighed, shaking her head. "I get that he's a jerk, but—"

"But nothing!" Naruto said, surprising Asuka. "My roommates ran into that jackass earlier, and he totally made them miserable. Made them want to give up before they even try." Naruto glared at the distant image of Takada's back. "I may hate guys who give up, but guys like him are even worse than that."

Asuka sighed again but couldn't hide her slight smile. "Honestly, what am I going to do with you."

Junko and Momoe looked between the two blondes, growing more and more disbelieving as they did so. The two leant into each other to whisper.

"What are you two whispering about?" Asuka sighed, yet again. "Come on, you two need to get ready."

"What about you, Asuka-san?"

"I need to go find Manjoume-kun. He and his friends are the only ones now who aren't aware the welcome party is about to start." She turned to Naruto. "You should head back to the Slifer dorm too; your party is the same time as ours."

Naruto grimaced at the idea of returning to his dorm but nodded anyway. "I guess. See ya later, Asuka-chan."

Asuka nodded with a smile before heading towards the main building, shooing away the again whispering girls, who began to head off as well. Not without sending him curious looks, however.

Naruto huffed, releasing as much of his attention as he could in one breath. After staring at the lake with a moody pout for a moment, he made the trek back to the dorm. 'Maybe I should give Sumi another chance. I can get why he'd be in that kind of mood. Maybe he'll have calmed down by now.'

* * *

Naruto entered his dorm room. He saw Sumi, still glaring at the wall, and Yasuhiro, still lying in bed. Taking a deep breath, Naruto raised his hand.

"Hey, Yasuhiro, Sum—"

"What the hell do you want, Uzumaki?"

Naruto's brow twitched. Hard. 'Nope, still can't stand this jackass!'

Chapter end


	3. Remember My Name! (…uh, what was it again?)

Chapter Three—Remember My Name! (…uh, what was it again?)

The Slifer Red welcome dinner had been, in a word, underwhelming. Mostly. Sure, the food was substandard, and the dining hall smelled faintly of mildew, but Judai had been so eager to eat that the dorm head, Daitokuji-sensei, decided to skip introductions and get on with the meal. Naruto sat with Sho and Judai, not wanting to sit with his roommates. Specifically, Sumi. Not to mention that their table seemed to be the one bright spot in the dark atmosphere that had settled over the rest of the room as the other Slifer's began to understand their position at the academy. Conversation was riddled with Judai's optimism, which had made Naruto's mood better, and even Sho had brightened up a bit by the end.

Afterwards they went to their rooms for the rest of the evening, which has been awkward to say the least. Sumi had returned to his chair to brood, Yasuhiro went straight to bed, and Naruto was left sort of standing in the middle. Looking between the two, Naruto struggled to think of what to say or do.

"Oi, Sumi."

For all of five seconds before he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"What?" Sumi looked sullenly over his shoulder at Naruto.

"Did you run into some Obelisk Blue jerk earlier today?"

Sumi's eyes widened slightly, and a squeak came from Yasuhiro's bed.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Sumi scowled. "What about it?"

"I heard what that guy was like, and whatever he said, forget about it," Naruto crossed his arms and gave a firm nod. "Jackasses like that aren't worth listening to, ya know?"

"That's easy for you to say," Sumi said with a sneer. "You've got the skills to be able to brush his words off. But the rest of us—"

"Yeah, see, you keep saying what you think, but ya seem to speak for everyone else too," Naruto said, looking over at Yasuhiro's back. "What about you, Yasuhiro? You got something to say, or ya just gonna let Sumi keep speaking for you?"

"…" Yasuhiro's back shifted, as if he was trying to look back with the least effort possible. "I…I say we just drop it and go to bed. I'm still tired from the flight, and I'm full from dinner and I just want to sleep."

"Full? But you barely a—"

"I SAID DROP IT!"

Naruto and Sumi jumped, staring at Yasuhiro's back with wide eyes. The boy on the bed curled in on himself some more and said nothing else.

"…Right…yeah, sure, sorry." Naruto muttered, looking away and rubbing the back of his head.

"…" Sumi shuffled awkwardly in place, before muttering about going to bed as well and going for his pajamas.

Naruto, realising that perhaps now wasn't the best time to push, went to bed as well. The three teens lay in awkward silence until they managed to drop off. Naruto's last thoughts were of his fist landing squarely in Takada's smug face.

* * *

"Eh!? I missed all of that!?"

Judai grinned through a mouthful of rice, spraying poor Sho as he responded. "Yeah, it was a pretty close call with security, but we managed to give them the slip."

"Aniki!" Sho whined, brushing rice out of his hair. "Don't talk with your mouth full!"

"Heh heh," Judai grinned apologetically.

Judai and Sho had just finished regaling Naruto with their exploits the night before. A duel with some smug Obelisk Blue (Naruto figured that would be a common theme around this place), the ante rule, and a daring escape from campus security. The story made Naruto slump, his head resting on his palm.

"Man…sounds way more exciting than my evening," Naruto grumped, shovelling rice into his mouth. It was gone in a millisecond. "I just got into an argument with my roommates…again."

"Eh? Is there an issue with your roommates, Naruto-san?"

"They've already given up on doing well here. They think they're doomed because they're in Slifer."

"Hayato-kun said something similar…" Sho muttered, glancing to the other side of the room where the large boy was eating in solemn silence.

As Naruto glanced around, he saw that Hayato wasn't the only one. It seemed that the rest of the Slifer Reds were also quiet this morning. His own roommates were a few seats away. Sumi was glaring at his rice, and Yasuhiro was picking away at his half-heartedly. "Geeze. I can't believe everyone's giving up already."

"Ah I'm sure they'll get over it soon enough." Judai said, not even pausing his chewing. "All they need is a good duel and they'll perk right up!"

"I'm not sure it's that simple, Aniki," Sho said, himself now poking at his breakfast. "It's kind of hard to get motivated when you're not great at something."

"Bah, like that's an excuse," Naruto waved his hand, shoving a clump of rice in his mouth and swallowing it whole. "If you suck at something, then do it until you get better."

Sho hummed, clearly not convinced.

"Seriously, I used to suck! Got my ass kicked all the time. Now I can even take on Asuka-chan half the time."

"Eh? Asuka-san? As in Tenjoin Asuka?" Sho blinked, leaning back in his seat a bit. "You know her?"

"Er, yeah? Wait, you do?"

"Yeah," Judai said, putting his empty bowl down, "we ran into her yesterday and last night at the duel with Manjoume."

"Huh." Naruto blinked, tilting his head. "How about that."

"So, from what you're saying, she's a good duellist." Judai said with a gleam in his eye.

Naruto shuffled a bit, feeling a tad uncomfortable. "Yeah, she's really good. Of course, since I know her deck so well, I can counter it often enough, but you could say the same about her. Our duels are pretty 50/50."

"If it's Naruto-san saying that, then she must be strong," Sho said. He then remembered Naruto's words after his exam duel. "Does that mean that Asuka-san is one of those two duellists you mentioned?"

Naruto blinked, and grimaced a little. "Er, not quite. She's easily the third best duellist I've met, but those other two are in a league of their own."

The gleam in Judai's eyes grew brighter. "Seriously! And you got to duel two people like that?"

"Yeah, quite a lot. They wrecked me every time."

"Who are they? Do they go to Duel Academia?"

Naruto's grimace grew, and he closed his eyes. "…Yeah, but one of them isn't here anymore."

"Oh, did they graduate or something?" Sho asked, finishing off the rest of his meal.

"Or something." Naruto shovelled the rest of his meal into his mouth and swallowed it whole. "Welp, guess I better go get ready for class. Asuka-chan will kill me if I let my grades slip. See you guys later." He stood up and left the room, leaving two slightly bewildered classmates behind.

"Well, he does have a point," said Sho, standing up as well. "We don't want to be late on our first day of class."

"Eh, I guess." Judai shrugged, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. "Man, I sure hope I can duel those guys Naruto was talking about someday. Heck, I wanna duel Naruto someday too. Something tells me he's pretty good."

"Yeah," Sho said, thinking about the boy's confidence. 'Is it really that easy to get better?'

"In Duel Monsters, cards consist of Normal Monsters, Fusion Monsters, Ritual Monsters, Effect Monsters, as well as trap cards and spell cards. Trap cards can be further divided into Normal Traps, Counter Traps, and Continuous Traps. And spell cards can be divided into Normal Spells, Continuous Spells, Equip Spells, Quick-Play Spells, Ritual Spells, and Field Spells." Asuka took a breath, finishing her answer to the question she had received.

Naruto, having heard Asuka repeat the terms to him many a time, had been able to mouth along at the exact same pace she had spoken. He'd gotten a funny look from Sho.

"Benissimo!" Professor Cronos clapped his hands together in delight at Asuka's answer. "Extremely good! Perhaps I asked too simple a question of Signora Asuka, from Obelisk Blue."

"Those are the basics." Was all she said, sitting back down.

"Hm. Well, then…" Cronos' gaze wondered down to the front row, where Naruto, Sho, and Judai happened to be sat. "Signor Marufuji!"

Sho shot up out of his seat, standing at attention. "Y-Yes?"

"Please give us an explanation of Field Spells."

"Well…F-Field Spells are, um… Er…"

"Even kindergartners know that!" An Obelisk Blue boy yelled from the back, causing the majority of his dormmates to burst into laughter. Even some of the Ra Yellows were chuckling.

"Don't sweat it," said Judai, giving his friend an encouraging look. "Just calm down, Sho."

"Yeah, take a breath or something." Naruto added, watching him tremble in place.

"Enough." Cronos said, not giving Sho the time to do so, "Be seated."

Sho did so.

"Being unable to answer this most basic of basic questions. But then, he is Slifer Red. I am not shocked."

The Blue's started laughing again, and Naruto grit his teeth. He might not remember much, but he knew that a teacher mocking a student for lacking knowledge was downright nasty.

"I know the answer." Sho whispered, looking down at the desk. "I just get stage fright."

"However, Teacher, how much you know has no bearing on real duels, right?" Judai said.

"Wh-What?"

"After all, I'm also Slifer Red, and I beat you in a duel." Judai scratched his head, acting as if he was sheepish for pointing this out.

Cronos took out a handkerchief and bit into it, pulling it down as he glared at Judai. "Mama mia!"

It was the Slifer's turn to laugh now as Judai gave the crowd a peace sign. Naruto grinned, leaning around Sho to give Judai a fist bump.

Taking the handkerchief out, Cronos tried to regain control of the class. "A-Ahem, comunque!" After a few seconds the laughter died down. Searching the back of the room now, he quickly pointed at an Obelisk. "Signor Takada! Please give us an explanation of how Continuous Traps work."

"Of course, sir." Takada stood up, and the sound of his voice killed Naruto's good mood. "Continuous Trap cards are trap cards that stay on the field after activation. As they are trap cards, their effects, if applicable, can be activated during the opponents turn if the card itself is already activated."

"Benissimo! Another wonderful answer from Obelisk Blue. Truly, I can rely on Obelisk Blue to answer my questions properly."

"Of course, sir." Takada smirked. His eyes wondered down to the back of Naruto's head. "Honestly, if you can't even answer this much, you might as well give up now."

Naruto twitched and span around in his seat, giving Takada a glare. In the corner of his eye, he could see Yasuhiro sink into himself, and Sumi glare at the wall.

"Funny, I thought this was, you know, a school." Naruto said, getting the classes attention. "What's the point of coming to school if we're not going to learn anything? Chill out with the crew in the schoolyard, or something?"

"Ahem! Abbastanza!" Cronos stood in front of Naruto, getting Naruto to turn back around. "If you are so desperate for knowledge, Signor Uzumaki, then perhaps you shouldn't be disrupting class, and listen instead, is that not so?"

The Obelisks laughed again, Takada being the loudest.

"Let us see what you yourself know, Signor Uzumaki. Would you explain to the class what a Continuous Spell card is?"

"Uh, that's just a Continuous Trap but it's a spell card. Pretty simple teach."

"Tut tut." Cronos shook a finger, as well as his head, making an odd motion. "Your answer is a little lacking, is it not?"

"Well, fine, I guess they can only be activated on your turn, and, uh, they stick around, and stuff."

"Hmm, still rather deludente, but I suppose that will do." With dismissive wave, he moved on to another student.

"Jackass," Naruto said under his breath. "What does what I said have to do with pasta anyway?"

"I don't think he said 'al dente', Naruto-san…" Sho whispered, after taking a moment to realise what he meant.

"Then what the hell did he say?"

"…"

"Yeah, exactly."

* * *

"'Alchemy' refers to making metals out of other substances. In particular, it refers to the production of gold but more broadly, it is the art of turning base substances into noble ones…"

Naruto's eyes stared out into space, Professor Daitokuji's words like water off a duck's back.

He could hear Judai yawn and Sho whisper something, but Naruto was too braindead from a few minutes of the teacher's lecture to pay attention.

"Marufuji-kun."

Naruto blinked as Daitokuji addressed the boy next to him.

"Y-Yes!?" Sho shot up.

"Would you catch Pharaoh for me?"

"Huh? Pharaoh?"

"My cat, of course."

"Nyaaaa!"

Sho and Naruto looked down to see a large cat rubbing against Sho's leg. Naruto edged away, feeling wary of the cat. For some reason, looking at cats always gave him feelings of annoyance and frustration, as well as the phantom sting of claws on his face.

'For some reason…I really want to see this cat get crushed…'

* * *

Next up was gym class, and the Slifer Red students found themselves waiting at the sports hall in their academia issued track suits. Naruto and Judai stood next to each other.

"What's Sho doing?" Judai asked, looking around.

"Dunno, haven't seen him since lunch," Naruto said, shrugging.

Soon enough, their teacher arrived, and Naruto felt his cheeks warm up at the sight of her.

"Hello everyone! I'm Ayukawa Emi, and starting today, I'll be your health and gym teacher. I look forward to working with you."

Naruto was too. As soon as he thought that, an image of Asuka flashed through his mind and he shook his head. As the class began, Naruto mused that while Ayukawa-sensei was hot, Asuka was in a league of her own.

* * *

After classes for the day were done, Naruto had been lucky enough to be one of the first in the baths. As such, he was done with plenty of time to spare before curfew. He didn't fancy spending time in his dorm room, what with Sumi and Yasuhiro's general attitude, so he resolved to get his stuff quick and try to find something to do.

Yet, to his surprise as he entered his dorm room, he found that only Sumi was there. Naruto had half expected to find Yasuhiro in bed again. Sumi glared at him as he entered the room.

"Good, you're done. Last thing I wanted was to take a bath with you around," Sumi said, grabbing his bathing supplies in his hands.

Naruto's brow twitched. "Tch, ever heard of not saying something unless you've got something nice to say?"

"If that was the rule, I'd never speak," Sumi said, deadpan.

As Sumi made his exit, Naruto asked, "Where's Yasuhiro? I didn't see him in the baths."

Sumi scoffed. "That idiot got into an argument with that Takada asshole."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. He found that hard to believe.

"Yeah, that Obelisk bastard decided to reiterate what he told us yesterday, and Yamaguchi tried to stand up to him. Said something like, 'We won't give up yet, we've just started, stuttering all the way through. Probably got some of the nonsense you were spouting into his head all of a sudden."

Naruto's eyes widened. He was shocked. From how Yasuhiro was acting before, Naruto had thought that he'd given up entirely. With the shock was a growing pride. Maybe Yasuhiro wasn't a lost cause after all.

"Anyway, Takada didn't like that. Nor did his friends. Said he was going to 'show a pathetic Slifer his place'."

"What?! When was that?"

"About…ten minutes ago? They're probably still there."

Naruto shook, his wide eyes turning into a glare. "And what the hell are you doing here, then?"

Sumi shrugged. Through the whole conversation, he hadn't turned around, standing in the doorway facing away from Naruto. "Hey, Yamaguchi was the idiot who spoke up. Why should I let myself get dragged into it?"

Naruto's hands clenched. "You bastard…You just left him with them?" He marched forward and grabbed Sumi by the shoulder, spinning him around to face him. Sumi stumbled from the force, and stared wide eyed at the fist hovering in front of his face.

The first shook in place, before Naruto pushed him away. "Urgh, I don't have time to waste on you; where the hell are they?"

Sumi gulped, his detached demeanour collapsing at the physicality. "Th-They were near the main duel arena. They're probably still there, like I said."

Naruto growled, grabbing his duel disk and deck and barging past Sumi, causing the boy to stumble again. He jumped down the stairs, the wastes of time that they were.

'Hold on, Yasuhiro, I'm coming!'

* * *

"Kelbek, attack his life points directly!"

"Gah!" Yasuhiro fell down, his cards flying off his duel disk. The holograms vanished to the sound of Takada and his friend's laughter.

"Oh man, you Slifer's are worse than I thought. We've barely been here for fifteen minutes and you've already lost to us seven times." Takada shook his head, looking down at Yasuhiro with a sneer. "Ready to give up yet?"

Yasuhiro shook. Slowly, he nodded, his spirit crushed.

"Too bad! You lost your chance to give up when you tried to stand up for yourself! Get up, we're duelling again!"

"Come on, Tarada, this is getting boring." One of the Obelisks said, yawning into his hand. "We're wasting our time on this guy."

"It's Takada!" He snapped, spraying spit onto the other's face. "Besides, we can't let these Slifer's think they're worth a damn. Got to keep them in their place."

"Hey, maybe he's worried that a Slifer will replace him." One of the others whispered. "Tarukune's pretty weak himself."

"Yeah, people always said he only graduated prep school because his dad was a high up in Kaiba Corp." The other said back, quietly.

Unfortunately for them, they weren't quiet enough.

"What did you just say!?" Takada growled, grabbing them by the lapels. "First of all, it's Takada! Ta! Ka! Da! Second, what would you two know about skill anyway? I'll have you know I was Manjoume's number one rival back in prep school!"

"Does he even know your name, though?" Another wondered.

"Yeah, your so forgettable that even we can't always remember your name…er…Ryota—"

"THAT'S DOESN'T EVEN SOUND LIKE TAKADA!"

Yasuhiro stared at the scene with a blank, soulless expression. While his tormentors were distracted, he began edging away—

"Don't move, you loser! I'll deal with you later!" Takada pointed at him, not even looking his way. Ignoring the flinch he caused, he continued, "Listen up, you plebs, I'll have you know—"

"H-Hey, come on, calm down, Takata—"

"IT'S—"

"TAKADA!"

"Exactly! Huh?" Takada blinked, ceasing his shaking of one of his 'friends'. Everyone on the scene turned to look at the entrance of the arena. Standing there with his duel disk on was Naruto, glaring at the group of Obelisks. Takada huffed and shoved his almost victim away, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down on Naruto. "What're you doing here, Uzumaki? Can't you see we're in the middle of something here?"

Ignoring him, Naruto walked straight over to Yasuhiro, kneeling down next to him. "You ok, Yasuhiro?"

"…Uzumaki-san." Yasuhiro looked up, and Naruto clenched his fist at the defeated look in his eyes. "He's right. I don't belong here…"

"Hey, hey, what happened to the spine you temporarily grew?" Naruto grabbed Yasuhiro by the shoulder, giving it a light shake. "From what I heard, you tried to tell that jackass where to stick it. Where'd that spurt of bravery come from, and where's it gone now?"

Yasuhiro was silent for a moment. Then, "I kept thinking about what you said. About not giving up. I wanted to believe it, but after Sumi-san and I's run in with Takada that was basically impossible. But still, I saw you in class today. You could barely answer what a Continuous Spell card was, but I know that you're a great duellist. I…It made me think that maybe grades and exam results _aren't_ everything. So, when he tried to give us grief again earlier, I-I wanted to try and believe in myself a bit. But…But now I can see it's like Takada says. He and his friends beat me like it was nothing. I couldn't so much as damage their life points. We Slifers…we're nothing compared to them."

"Well, well, well, looks like we finally got through to him." Takada said, crossing his arms and sneering. "I thought we'd have to keep going to really hammer it in, but I guess our work here is done."

"Finally."

"Yeah man, I thought Taka would never stop."

"I've got things to do you know."

Takada's brow twitched. "It—" he blinked, then narrowed his eyes and turned to the second speaker. "Did you forget my name again, or was that meant to be a nickname?"

"Um… Yes."

"Tch."

As the Obelisks bickered, Naruto moved his gaze away from Yasuhiro's eyes to look down at the floor. Yasuhiro's words bounced around his mind as he considered them for a while.

"—alright, look, would it be easier to remember Junjirou?"

"Er…Juniichirou?"

"…Ok, are you all _actually_ this stupid or—"

"Takada."

"Hmm?" Takada turned around to look at Naruto. "What do you want, trash?"

Naruto stood up and turned to face Takada, who flinched at the look in his eyes. "You and me."

"Huh?"

"We're gonna duel, right here, right now."

"Uzumaki-san, no!" Yasuhiro grabbed at his arm, tugging on it. "Don't do it! That guy's really good! Even if it's you…"

"Hey." Naruto grinned down at him, and Yasuhiro stopped at the sight. "You said it yourself, right? I'm a great duellist. So, sit back and watch the result of serious hard work."

Yasuhiro blinked, his grip loosening. "Hard work…?"

Naruto moved his arm out of Yasuhiro's grip and took a step toward Takada. "So, what do you say, Takada, how about we pick up where we left off yesterday?"

Takada stared at him, having regained his composure during the little interplay between roommates. He smirked, "Heh, fine by me. But this time, Tenjoin isn't going to be around to save you."

"Heh, if anything it was your ass that Asuka-chan saved yesterday."

Takada's smirk dropped. "Tch, again with that familiarity with one of your betters. Well, actually this makes this even better. When I beat you, Tenjoin will realise the error of her ways and dump you like the Slifer trash you are."

Naruto glared, but turned it into a smirk. "The only trash I can see around here is you."

"Hah, big words coming from the guy who barely even knows what a Continuous Spell card is. I bet you couldn't work your way around a Continuous Trap even after the explanation I gave earlier." Takada powered up his duel disc, raising it at chest height. "Once I'm through with you, we're going to run you through the same gauntlet we gave your friend there."

"Eh, seriously?"

"I've got things to do, Takajirou!"

"Actually, guys, I recognise that Slifer. He was at the entrance exam, and he was pretty good too, for a Slifer that is."

"Ooh, I think you're right. Hey, maybe Takada will lose and his fears of being replaced by a Slifer will come true."

"Hey, that could be worth watching."

"Hey, Takada, if you lose, we'll tell the whole dorm!"

Takada growled, "Oh, so now that they're insulting me, they suddenly remember my name," he said under his breath. 'Still, once I crush this loser, I can move on to that Yuki kid. With the strongest duellists in Slifer Red crushed underfoot, I can move onto the Ra Yellows, then the Obelisks Blues, and then all of Duel Academia will remember the name, Takada Junjirou!'

Naruto grinned. "With friends like them, who needs enemies, huh?"

"Whatever, just shut up and start up your duel disc."

Naruto did so. He glanced at Yasuhiro, who was still looking at him in bewilderment. "Hey, Yasuhiro, mind scooting over a bit?"

Yasuhiro started, the dazed look finally disappearing. "Oh, uh, sure."

"You too, you lot!" Takada snapped at his entourage, and they moved while snickering over thoughts of him losing against a Slifer. "Prepare for the duel of your life, Uzumaki!"

"Compared to the guy's I've duelled before? This'll be a cinch."

"DUEL!"

"I'll go first, slacker!" Takada drew a card. "I set one monster face-down and call it a turn."

"Man, Takada always starts off so slow."

"It's amazing he beat that other Slifer so quickly earlier."

"That's it?" Naruto blinked. "After all that talk and that's all you've got?"

Takada sneered. "Just get on with your turn, slacker." He gave the other Obelisks a filthy look. They can say what they like about his playstyle, but none of them had ever beaten it.

"Fine; draw!" Naruto looked at his hand. 'Hmm…this can work.' "I play the spell card Ancient Telescope! This card lets me look at the top 5 cards in your deck!"

Takada scoffed. "Go for it. It won't help you."

"Whatever you say." In front of Naruto, 5 holographic cards floated in place. 'Let's see…Sangan, Pot of Greed, White Magician Pikeru, Kelbek, and Twin-Headed Behemoth…' Naruto's shoulders slumped, his eyebrows raising. 'What the heck is this deck?' The holograms vanished. "Now that I know the next card in your deck, I'll declare 'Monster card'!"

"Typical Slifer mistake," Takada chuckled, shaking his head. "See, usually when you play a card like Ancient Telescope, you keep what you learn to yourself."

Naruto laughed. "Typical arrogant jackass mistake; jumping to conclusions. See, when I declare the top card of your deck, if I'm correct, I get to special summon a certain monster from my hand."

Takada took the top card of his deck, and with a scoff revealed it. "It's Sangan."

"Since I was right, I can special summon SPYRAL Super Agent from my hand!"

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

"SPYRAL Super Agent, attack his face-down monster!"

SPYRAL Super Agent ran forwards, bringing his briefcase up ready to swing.

Takada laughed as his monster was revealed. "You fool! You attacked my 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom!" A giant ladybug appeared just in time for it to get smashed to pieces. "When my Ladybug is flipped face-up, all of your level four monsters are destroyed!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Shit! SPYRAL Super Agent is level four!" Naruto watched in irritation as his monster was destroyed. "Damn it, why can't he seem to stick around for more than two minutes lately!?"

Yasuhiro wilted, watching the duel with a dour, knowing expression. He knew it would go like this. Everything he tried to do in their duels, Takada had some way of countering him. 'I guess us Slifer's don't stand a chance after all...'

"Hahaha!" Takada threw his head back, showing his mirth to the world. "Just like a Slifer Red, whining when things don't go his way!"

Naruto scowled. "Don't get too cocky, I still haven't had my normal summon yet! I normal summon SPYRAL Quik-Fix in defence mode!" In SPYRAL Super Agent's place now sat a young-looking man with messy brown hair and thick, bottle lens glasses. He wore a white lab coat, with a blue tie, a small ear piece device, and loosely held a screwdriver in one hand.

**#SPYRAL Quik-Fix—Machine—500/400#**

"Not a great defence there, Slacker." Takada smirked.

"Good job he's not there for his defence points, then! When SPYRAL Quik-Fix is summoned, I can add one SPYRAL GEAR card from my deck to my hand!" Naruto fanned out his deck and took a card from it. "I set one card and end my turn!"

"My turn, draw!"

"Trap card, activate!"

"What?"

"Mind Crush! By declaring that you have a Sangan in your hand, this trap card forces you to discard all copies of it."

"Tch." Takada's new card immediately went into the graveyard. "Fine, I set one monster and two other cards and end my turn."

"Draw. I play the spell card, SPYRAL Gear—Big Red. This card lets me summon a SPYRAL monster from my graveyard by equipping it with this card. I choose SPYRAL Super Agent in attack mode!"

With a roar of an engine, SPYRAL Super Agent drove back onto the field in a red sports car.

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

Yasuhiro blinked. 'It came back so quick…but Takada will just get rid of it again.'

"Since he was special summoned from the effect of a SPYRAL card, Super Agent can destroy one of your spell or trap cards!"

Leaning out of the window, Super Agent aimed his pistol at one of the cards, shooting it and destroying it, revealing it to have been a spell card.

"Now, Spyral Super Agent, attack his monster!"

As the car drove towards the face-down card, it flipped up to reveal another ladybug, before it was crushed under rubber.

"When my Skull-Mark Ladybug is sent to the graveyard, my life points increase by 1000." Takada grinned as his points increased.

**#Takada—5000#**

**#Naruto—4000#**

"I'll set one monster and one other card face-down and end my turn."

"I activate my trap card, Solemn Wishes," Takada pressed a button and the card revealed itself. "Whenever I draw a card or cards, this trap increases by life points by 500."

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a theme?" Naruto said, brow ticking.

"My turn, draw! And, thanks to my trap card…"

**#Takada—5500#**

**#Naruto—4000#**

Takada took on a pose like that of a teacher. "See, student, that was what we call a Continuous Trap card." He dropped the pose and snickered. "Since, you know, I'm pretty sure you don't know how they work! Next, I play the spell card, Pot of Greed. Guess what that means!"

"Ugh."

"Two more cards for me, and another 500 life points as well."

**#Takada—6000#**

**#Naruto—4000#**

"I'll summon Exiled Force in attack mode. Then, by tributing it, I can destroy one monster on your side of the field."

"Oh, come on!" Naruto cried as his Agent—along with the car he drove—was destroyed yet again.

'Knew it,' Yasuhiro sighed.

"And with that I'll end my turn."

"Gah, come on, give me something good!" Naruto looked at his hand, and sighed. "Urgh, this doesn't help me right now. I set a monster face-down and end my turn."

"My turn, draw—and that's more life points for me."

**#Takada—6500#**

**#Naruto—4000#**

"I summon Twin-Headed Behemoth in attack mode."

**#Twin-Headed Behemoth—Dragon—1500/1200#**

"Attack his first face-down monster!"

The two-headed dragon roared and blasted the monster, revealing it to be a red clad ninja.

"By attacking my Crimson Ninja, you've activated his effect! He destroys a trap card on the field!" A shuriken flew from the ninjas hand before it was engulfed by flames. The weapon pierced the hologram of the card, causing it to explode. 'Man, glad I put this card in. Ninjas are actually pretty damn cool. That booster pack Asuka-chan bought me to celebrate passing sure helped out.'

"Hm, well, that's fine, it's already served its purpose," Takada smirked, putting a hand on his waist. "This is pretty pathetic, Uzumaki. You haven't landed a hit on me."

"Neither have you, jerk," Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"Sure, but I have made my life points so high that there's no way you can beat me now."

"Heh, you underestimate how quick I can deal damage, Takada."

"Whatever, just start your turn so we can get this over sooner."

"Fine, my draw!" He looked at the card he drew, a smirk tugging on his lip. He put it in his hand. "I set a card and end my turn."

"Draw! Hah, let's see what your hiding there, Uzumaki! I play Swords of Revealing Light, revealing your face-down monster and stopping you from attacking for three whole turns."

"Oh joy, another stalling card."

"I'll never get around to that what I've got to do later, will I?"

"But hey, that Slifer's lasted longer than the other one so far."

Swords made of light appeared around Naruto's side of the field, and his face-down monster was flipped up, revealing another ninja.

"Since my Armed Ninja was flipped face-up, I can destroy one spell card on the field, and I choose Swords of Revealing Light!"

"Oh, never mind, then."

"That was quick."

"Tch," Takada grit his teeth as the blue ninja threw a kunai, piercing his spell and shattering it, causing the swords to shatter as well. "Whatever, I summon White Magician Pikeru in attack mode."

**#White Magician Pikeru—Spellcaster—1200/0#**

"I attack both of your monsters with Pikeru and Behemoth!"

The dragon roared and Pikeru aimed her staff, causing both SPYRAL Quik-Fix and Armed Ninja to expire.

"I end my turn."

"I activate my trap card!" Naruto grinned, pressing the button. "SPYRAL MISSION—Rescue! And hey, what do you know, it's a Continuous Trap card. Though of course, you know all about them, don't you, Takada?"

"... What does it do?"

"Glad you asked. This Continuous Trap card lets me return a SPYRAL monster from my graveyard to my hand once per turn. I'm choosing SPYRAL Super Agent!"

"Tch, it's like a cockroach. Fine, I end my turn."

"Draw! I activate SPYRAL Super Agents effect!"

"Huh, really? Now that's just being desperate, Uzumaki." Takada shook his head, smirking. "You don't even know what the top card of my deck is."

Yasuhiro stared with wide eyes. Once again, Naruto had gotten his ace monster back. It seemed like, no matter how many times it was destroyed, it would keep coming back. It really gave him a sense that, despite how often Takada knocked him down, Naruto just wasn't going to give up.

But still, to try and activate its effect without knowing for sure what the top card of Takada's deck was…what was he thinking?

"Yeah, that's true, but I have a one in three chance of getting it right. I'll take that chance rather than stand by and just let you win."

Yasuhiro gasped.

Naruto pointed at Takada. "I declare that the top card of your deck is a monster card!"

"Hm, well let's see, shall we." Takada drew a card, and the vein in his forehead convulsed. "Grr, fine, you were right." He revealed the Man-Eater Bug he just looked at.

"Nice! I summon SPYRAL Super Agent in attack mode."

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

"He did it…" Yasuhiro said, finally speaking up as he stared in awe.

"Attack White Magician Pikeru!"

"Gah!" Takada raised his arm as Pikeru was destroyed, and the first damage in the duel was dealt.

**#Takada—5900#**

**#Naruto—4000#**

"Hah, take that!"

"Oh please, that was nothing. Barely even a dent in my reserves!"

"This is just the start, Takada. Now that my combo is nearly complete, this duel is mine!"

"Big time words from a small-time duellist! Draw! I set one monster face-down and end my turn." Takada smirked. 'With Man-Eater Bug and Twin-Headed Behemoth on the field, I can stall this out for as long as I need to get what I need.'

"Draw! Here we go, Takada, it's time to set up my combo! This will end the duel!"

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Then watch and believe it! I activate the Continuous Spell card, Infected Mail! Oh! Would you look at that, a Continuous Spell card! And, what do you know, I know how to use it. As for what it does; once per turn, I can select one of my level 4 or lower monsters, and this turn it can attack your life points directly!"

"What!?"

"SPYRAL Super Agent, attack his life points directly!"

With a smirk, SPYRAL Super Agent ran towards Takada, and flipped over his defensive line, landing right next to him. Takada took a step back in shock, but he still took a briefcase to the chest.

"Gah!"

**#Takada—4000#**

**#Naruto—4000#**

The agent smirked, before dropping his briefcase and clutching his chest as his entire form glitched out. He shattered into pixels with a cry.

Naruto explained after seeing the confused looks he was getting. "After the battle phase is over, those effected by Infected Mail are sent to the graveyard. But that doesn't matter, because with SPYRAL MISSION—Rescue on the field, I can just return SPYRAL Super Agent to my hand and normal summon him!"

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

"With that, my Continuous Combo is complete. I end my turn."

"Woah, I didn't think that guy had it in him."

"Yeah, from his crappy explanation in class, you'd think he didn't even know what to do with a Continuous card, Spell or otherwise."

Takada smirked as he drew a card. "Is that all, Uzumaki? Is that your game ending combo? Big whoop, so you can actually use Continuous cards after all. Bog deal! You've just forgotten one little thing! I still have more monsters than you, _and_ I have Man-Eater Bug! Flip Summon!"

Naruto grinned, like the cat who caught the canary, it's family and friends, and had a feast. "Trap card, activate! Forced Back! When you normal or flip summon a monster, this trap card negates the summon and sends it back to your hand!"

Takada howled in anger as he was forced to return his bug. "FINE! I'll just set it again and get you next turn!"

"Draw! I activate Infected Mail again and attack with SPYRAL Super Agent!"

Once again, Takada grunted as Super Agent slammed him with his briefcase, and once again the agent shattered.

**#Naruto—4000#**

**#Takada—2100#**

"Using my trap card, Super Agent returns to my hand, and I summon him again." He normal summoned

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

"I end my turn." As he said this, his SPYRAL MISSION—Rescue vanished into pixels. "During my 3rd end phase after activating this card, it is destroyed." Naruto said.

"Huh, seriously?"

"Man, he was so close, too."

"Ahahaha!" Takada through his head back, hand over his stomach as he laughed. "Perfect, that means your Super Agent won't be coming back! So much for your unbeatable combo; guess you couldn't finish me quick enough after all!" Takada swiped a card from the top of his deck. "I summon Kelbek in attack mode, and next I flip summon Man-Eater Bug!"

**#Kelbek—Fairy—1500/1800#**

**#Man-Eater Bug—Insect—450/600#**

"Since it was successfully summoned this time, Man-Eater Bug's effect lets me destroy one of your monsters, so say goodbye to your SPYRAL Super Agent; for the last time!"

SPYRAL Super Agent cried out as it was assaulted by the giant insect. Naruto grimaced at the sight.

"Now, Twin-Headed Behemoth, Kelbek, and Man-Eater Bug, all of you attack his life-points directly!"

Naruto yelled as he was buffeted by the attacks of the three monsters, grimacing as the smoke cleared.

**#Takada—2100#**

**#Naruto—550#**

"I end my turn!"

Naruto said nothing as he drew a card.

"Why don't you just end your turn, Uzumaki? There's nothing you can do in this situation!" Takada's grin nearly split his face. 'Yes! My journey to the top starts now!'

"No way…Uzumaki-san," Yasuhiro muttered, the new shine in his eyes starting to fade again. 'He was so close.'

Naruto chuckled.

'Huh?'

"What's so funny?" Takada tilted his head, squinting at his opponent. "Finally accepted your place, Slifer?"

"I'm laughing because you're so dumb." Naruto grinned, pointing at his graveyard. "See, I've already got everything I need to finish this duel off."

"Heh, alright, I'll humour you. How could you possibly get out of this on this turn?"

"By activating the effect of SPYRAL MISSION—Rescue in my graveyard!"

"What? In the graveyard?"

"That's right; my Continuous Combo ain't over yet! By removing it from play while it's in my graveyard, I can special summon a SPYRAL monster from my graveyard!"

"What!?"

"I special summon SPYRAL Super Agent in attack mode!"

Once again, the snazzy spy returned to the field, his grin as cocky as ever.

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—1900/1200#**

"Is that it? So what?" Takada sneered. "Even if you attack me directly with that, I'll still have life points left, and you'll be left with nothing to defend yourself."

"Ah, ah, ah, don't get ahead of yourself." Naruto shook a finger, smirking. "I'm not done with the graveyard effects yet! Since I have SPYRAL Super Agent on the field, I can discard a card from my hand to special summon SPYRAL Quik-Fix from the graveyard." Sliding a card into the graveyard, it caused SPYRAL Quik-Fx to return to the field.

**#SPYRAL Quik-Fix—Machine—500/400#**

"Since I special summoned SPYRAL Quik-Fix, I can add a SPYRAL Gear card from my deck to my hand."

"Ok, so what? Even if you attack directly with Super Agent and destroy my Man-Eater Bug with Quik-Fix, you still won't do enough damage."

"Yeah, that's true. But remember, I still have a normal summon left this turn. I summon SPYRAL Gear—Drone in attack mode."

**#SPYRAL GEAR – Drone—Machine—100/100#**

"Now usually, I'd use my Drones effect to look at the top three cards of your deck, but I care more about its secondary effect right now. By tributing it, I can make my SPYRAL Super Agent gain 500 attack points for each card you currently control!"

Takada's mouth and eyes opened wide. "Wh—What?"

SPYRAL GEAR—Drone faded away into pixels, which gathered around Super Agent. He grew larger, as did his attack points.

**#SPYRAL Super Agent—Warrior—3400/1200#**

"Woah, look at that thing!"

"That's more than enough to finish Takada off!"

"Holy crap, he's actually going to lose to a Slifer Red!"

Yasuhiro's mouth fell open.

Takada's eyes twitched as he took the monster in. "W…Wait, hold on…"

"I activate Infected Mail! SPYRAL Super Agent can attack you directly this turn! Go, SPYRAL Super Agent, finish this duel!"

The super spy grinned and ran forwards, backflipping and landing behind Takada. Takada span around, only to receive a spin kick to the chest. He stumbled to the ground in shock as the damage was calculated.

**#Naruto—550#**

**#Takada—0#**

"He…he won," Yasuhiro said, whispering with a look of awe.

His words seemed to awaken the stunned Obelisks.

"Wow, he lost."

"I didn't actually expect that."

"Heh, he actually lost to Slifer trash?"

Takada, still staring at where the now vanished hologram had been, began to shake.

"Oh man, wait until everyone hears about this."

"Yeah, let's go tell everyone how Takada got his ass kicked!"

"You know, I really don't like guys like you."

"Huh?" The three Obelisks had been turning to leave, only to see Naruto standing in their way. "What did you say?"

"Takada, sure, he's a prick, can't stand him either," Naruto said, narrowing his eyes, "but guys like you are another thing. You call us Slifer's trash, but those who abandon their friends are the real trash!" He wasn't sure where the words were coming from, but Naruto found himself believing in them whole-heartedly.

"Hey, listen here you—"

"You guys want to take me on, huh?" Naruto raised his duel disc, making the three flinch much to his amusement. "Come on, I thought you Obelisk Blue guys were the real deal. You're not scared of one Slifer Red, are you?"

The three glanced between each other, and with shaky scoffs walked past him. "W-Whatever, we have things to do anyway."

"Man, mom is going to be so pissed I haven't called yet."

"I need to clean my cat."

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He shook his head and started walking over to Yasuhiro. "Hey, Yas—"

"Uzumaki!"

Naruto paused, looking at Takada who was now on his feet and glaring at him.

"Who said I needed you to stick up for me, huh? Like I want the trash who ruined my reputation to speak on my behalf!" He clenched his fists so hard they shook.

Naruto raised a brow. "Who said I was sticking up for you? Like I would. I just hate guy's like that. Wanted to give them a piece of my mind, that's all."

Takada studied him for a moment more, before scoffing and turning around. "Whatever, but don't you think this is over. If I knew you were this skilled, I would have taken you seriously from the start. Heh, I bet you did bad on the exam on purpose so people would underestimate you for being a Slifer. No way a guy like you is actually Slifer Red level. Well I won't be fooled again! Next time, I'll treat you like an Obelisk, and show you, and everyone else, why I deserve to be the number one in Obelisk Blue!" He stormed away, yelling "Remember my name; Takada Junjirou!" as he went.

Naruto watched him leave, confusion written all over his face. "The hell was he going on about?"

"Uzumaki-san…" Yasuhiro said, getting Naruto's attention. He swallowed, took a breath, then let it out as he lost his nerve. However, it soon regained it and said, "T-Thanks, I'm glad you came…"

"Of course," Naruto said, crossing his arms behind his head and grinning, "like I was just going to leave you high and dry."

Yasuhiro gave a hesitant smile back, but it fell as he looked down. "I…I don't know why I tried standing up to them. I mean, I knew that Sumi-san wasn't going to, but…but I felt like I needed to say anything. I didn't want to be looked down on, so I spoke up." He shook his head, laughing bitterly. "They didn't like that, so they forced me to duel them over and over again. I was about to give up, any courage I got was about to fade."

Naruto stayed silent, letting him work through it without interruption.

"So, thank you for coming to help, and I'm sorry I didn't have faith in you. I thought Takada was going to destroy you. But in that duel, you kept recovering and refusing to give up. I wish I could have that kind of fortitude..."

"How many times did those guys duel you?"

"Huh? Oh, um…" He thought back a bit. "Uh, seven times? I didn't win any, though."

Naruto scoffed, but his grin took any edge away. "You duelled them seven times in a row before you were about to give up? That's pretty cool right there."

Yasuhiro's eyes widened. "B-But I was about to give up!"

"Yeah, well, just because you gave up in that situation, doesn't mean you have to give up on everything else," Naruto said, turning slightly to look at Yasuhiro from the corner of his eye. "That wasn't exactly a normal situation, you know? Even I might struggle to keep going after seven duels in a row."

"Even you, huh." Yasuhiro slumped at the wording, a disbelieving smile on his face. "Heh, yeah, maybe."

"Look, you think I was always good at this game?" Naruto turned again to look him dead in the eyes. "I'm not kidding when I say I used to suck. Big time. It took me about a year to even figure all the rules out. And that's only because someone was there to help drill it into my head." He shuddered, gaze straying to stare at nothing. "Spell speeds are evil." He shuddered again, and looked back to Yasuhiro. "Guys like Takada and those other Obelisks, they like to throw their weight around because they think their elites or some shit. If they have to act like jackasses to feel validated, then that's on them."

Yasuhiro gave a weak chuckle.

"So yeah, you might suck right now, but everyone sucks at first. Some people have people to help them suck less. Some just get it quicker than others. It really sucks, being bad at something, not feeling like you're ever gonna get better. But if you give up, then you're letting them win. You're letting every asshole who says you can't be right. You want to give Takada to satisfaction of being right?"

Yasuhiro grinned and looked away. "Well, if you put it like that."

Naruto chuckled and looked up, leaning back on his heels. "Despite what Takada said in his mad ramblings, I really did do terrible on the entrance exam. Yeah, I can admit that. I've had that drilled into my head already." He grimaced at the memory of the scolding he got from Asuka, before being forced to do extra studying. "I want to be in Obelisk Blue one day, despite the fact that it's mostly populated with assholes like Takada. You saw what happened in class today, I suck with the academic parts of this game. But I need to get better at them if I want to fulfil my goals. You might think I'm super far ahead of the rest of Slifer Red, but honestly I'm in the same boat as everyone else."

Yasuhiro's eyes widened slightly, a puff of air escaping his lips. "Ah…I never thought about it like that. I just figured you were really advanced because you duelled so well. But, you're in the same boat as us, huh…" He trailed off, giving it some serious thought. He perked up, and snapped his fingers. "I-I think I have an idea!"

"Huh?" Naruto looked back down, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"W-Well, like you said, we're both in the same boat, right? And you also said that sometimes you need someone's help to suck less. So, how about we help each other study!"

Naruto paled at the "S" word. "S-Studying, huh." He swallowed and looked away with a grimace. "W-Well, I guess I _do_ need to study, if I want to get my grades up…"

"Of course! Like you said, Naruto-san, you can't give up, right! If you give up because you don't like studying, then you're letting them win!"

Naruto blinked, taken aback at the sudden burst of energy. "Um, well, I guess I did say something like that, huh?" He scratched the back of his head. "Well, I suppose we could do that. I hate studying, but I really do need to get into Obelisk Blue someday…"

"Yosh! Let's do it, Naruto-san!" Yasuhiro pumped his fists, a bright smile lighting up his face. "Let's show them what we can do when we don't give up!"

Naruto watched, sweating slightly, as Yasuhiro repeatedly pumped his fists on the spot. "I…I think my pep talk worked a little too well…"

"Alright! I feel rejuvenated, like a new man! You used Monster Reborn on me! This must be what my Zombie monsters feel like!"

"Er, pretty sure zombies don't feel anything…"

"Let's go, Naruto-san! Let's go study right now! We'll show Takada what Slifer Reds can do!"

"W-Woah, hey!" Naruto stumbled as Yasuhiro grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him away. "What's with this sudden change of character!? You're like a totally different person."

"You've given me hope, Naruto-san! Let's show them what we can do!"

"Agh, hey, slow down a second! Damnit, that's the last time I give a freaking pep talk!"

Chapter end

* * *

Omake

"Takada."

"Hmm?" Takada turned around to look at Naruto. "What do you want, trash?"

Naruto stood up and turned to face Takada, who flinched at the look in his eyes. "You and me."

"Huh?"

"We're gonna duel, right here, right now."

(BANG!)

"Wait, what the hell?" Takada blinked, looking around in shock.

BUHHANASE LIKE A DANGAN LINER!

"Huh?!"

RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW (BURN!)

"Where is this music coming fr—gah!" Takada crumpled to the floor as Naruto decked him in the schnozz.

"I'M A FIGHTING DREAMER, BITCH!"

Omake end

* * *

Omake #2

"Takada."

"Hmm?" Takada turned around to look at Naruto. "What do you want, trash?"

Naruto stood up and turned to face Takada, who flinched at the look in his eyes. "You and me."

"Huh?"

"We're gonna duel, right here, right now."

"Now?"

RIGHT ABOUT NOW!

"What the—" Takada frowned, looking around.

THE FUNK SOUL BROTHER

"Seriously?!"

CHECK IT OUT NOW

THE FUNK SOUL BROTHER

"What the fuck does this have to do with anime!?"

"Digimon the Movie, bitch!"

"What, that piece of garb—gah!"

"THAT MOVIE IS A FUCKING GEM, JACKASS!"

"AGH MY NOSE! IT'LL BE ONE WEEK TILL IT HEALS!"

"Really?"

"THAT'S THE IMPRESSION THAT I GET, YES!"

Omake #2 End


	4. Chapter Four - A Quizzical Encounter

Chapter Four - A Quizzical Encounter

"What are the three types of trap cards?"

"Uh, Normal Trap, Continuous Trap and…Counter Traps?"

"Correct!" Asuka gave Yasuhiro an encouraging smile, causing the boy to look away with a blush. "How about the types of spell cards?"

Meanwhile.

"So, if someone activates a Quick-Play Spell card, can you respond with a Normal Spell?"

"No. I know that much."

"Yes, but do you know why?"

"Uh…" Naruto's face went blank. His eyes edged towards the text book in front of him.

"Don't look," Misawa said, covering the book with his hand. "It's not enough to simply know, you need to know why. So, why can't you respond to a Quick-Play Spell with a Normal Spell?"

"Ugh…"

The unlikely quartet were gathered in the library, sat around a table as they studied together. They were a group that got odd looks; an Obelisk, a Ra, and two Slifers all interacting without issue. The sight of Slifer Reds studying itself earned more than a few double takes.

Since Naruto's duel with Takada, the four of them started gathering in the library every other day to study. Asuka had been shocked to hear Naruto actually ask to study, but after hearing how he wanted to help his roommate she was more than happy to lend a hand. It was something she wished more of her peers in Blue would do, rather than keep up the petty rivalry and bullying. Misawa hadn't been too hard to convince, either. Having already made the offer to Naruto on their first day he was thrilled to have it accepted.

Still, perhaps he was regretting his decision as he pulled the textbook closer. "Try to remember this, because it's important. Every card in the game has what is called a Spell Speed. A card with a Spell Speed lower than another cannot react to the one with the higher Spell Speed."

Naruto groaned, rubbing his hands in his hair. "I remember those things, I think. Can never remember what card has what, though."

"Then allow me to go through them. At the bottom we have Spell Speed 1. Normal Spell cards and Continuous Spell cards, as well as most Effect Monsters, are Spell Speed 1. Normal Trap cards, Continuous Trap cards, Quick-Play Spell cards, and some Effect Monsters are Spell Speed 2."

"Wait, hold up," Naruto held up a hand. His face was scrunched up, forcing his eyes shut. "How do you know what monsters are Spell Speed 1 or Spell Speed 2?"

"Well, usually in their text it will say 'On either player's turn' or, 'On your opponent's turn', followed by a colon. This implies that the effect is a Spell Speed 2, and can be activated during the opponent's turn. And that is where Spell Speed 2 shines. Spell Speed 2 effects are effects that can be activated on your opponent's turn, as opposed to Spell Speed 1, that can only be activated on your turn. Another benefit to Spell Speed 2 effects is that they can be chained to other card effects."

"Right…"

"Well, if you still aren't sure, I'll give you an example. Say someone was to activate the effect of the Continuous Spell card, Earthquake, which changes the opponent's monsters to defence mode. This card is Spell Speed 1. If you were to respond with a Mystical Space Typhoon - Spell Speed 2 - during the activation of Earthquake upon the summoning of a monster, Mystical Space Typhoon would chain to the activation- "

"Wait, I thought you said that Spell Speed 1 cards can only activate in your turn."

Misawa sighed. "The card itself can only be activated on your turn, but a card being activated and an effect being activated are two different things."

"…"

"As I was saying. If you chain Mystical Space Typhoon to the activation of Earthquake's effect, Earthquake would be destroyed, thus removing it from the field before resolving. As it wasn't on the field when it resolved, the effect doesn't occur, as a Continuous Spell card needs to be on the field to resolve its effect," Misawa paused, then added, "unless the card text says otherwise- "

"URGH!" Naruto covered his head, cowering beneath his arms. "No more, my head hurts! Why is this game so confusing!?"

"Come now, it isn't that bad."

" -and that's how Effect Monsters work." Asuka said to Yasuhiro, before sighing and closing her textbook. "Well, I suppose that's all for today. I've studied with Naruto enough to know that any more will just leak out of his brain."

"Yes, I've started to gather as much," Misawa said, putting his books away.

Yasuhiro turned to Naruto, blinking. "I thought you said you'd had Spell Speeds drilled into your head already?"

Asuka raised a brow at that. "Oh, did he put it like that? Still, he has a point, you told me that you understood Spell Speeds already." She narrowed her eyes. "Unless you were lying to get out of more studying?"

Naruto sat upright. "N-No, not at all! I, er, understood them at the time…sorta, but I guess I forgot again." He rubbed the back of his head, looking to the side with a shaky laugh.

Asuka shook her head, choosing not to grill him on it…this time. Still... "I would suggest finally getting Spell Speeds down, Naruto. This is the kind of thing you'll need to know by heart if you want to get into Ra Yellow."

"I concur. Not only that, but truly understanding Spell Speeds will only further improve your duelling." Misawa said, finished with putting his stuff away. "I would advise you to find the time to look through your card texts and see which monsters might have Spell Speed 2 effects. Especially as we have the first of our monthly exams coming up soon."

Naruto groaned, but didn't complain. As much as he hated tests and studying, he needed to suffer them if he didn't want to be nothing but talk regarding his goal.

"Honestly, with how skilled you are at duelling, I can't imagine you not getting into Ra Yellow whatever your grade is," said Yasuhiro, fiddling with his bags zip as he tried to close it.

Naruto frowned at that. Something about that statement didn't really sit well with him. "You think so?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, you beat Takada, right? He's an Obelisk Blue and you were good enough to beat him."

"Excuse me, did I hear that right?"

The unlikely foursome paused what they were doing at the new voice. Looking to the next table over, they saw another Slifer Red sitting in a chair. It was clear he had only just got there, what with his books only half out of his bag. Realising he had paused in place, he finished taking them out and put them on the table. He then took out his stationary and started placing them.

"What did you say?" Naruto said, after a minute of stationary arrangement.

"Hmm?" The boy looked up from where he was adjusting pencils, staring through his glasses. "Oh, right. I asked if I had heard right. About you defeating an Obelisk Blue, that is."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Hmm." He went back to his pencils, making them parallel. "If it's true, then that's impressive. Yet, you are wearing a Slifer Red jacket, which would imply that you don't have the skills to pull off such a thing."

"Says the guy wearing a Slifer Red jacket," Naruto said, looking at said jacket.

"Hm," the boy finished with his pencils before nodding and moving on to his eraser, "I would have easily passed the exam with a high enough score to be in Ra Yellow. However, I had an awful cold at the time which hindered my performance."

"Impressive, if it's true," Naruto fired back, resting his face on a fist, "but seeing as you've got that jacket on…"

"Ah, mockery through mimicry. I see you have the same sense of humour that chimps possess."

Naruto's brow twitched, leaning over to Yasuhiro. "Hey, you know who this guy is?"

Yasuhiro nodded. "That's Hazama Reiji, he sat at the same table as Sumi and I at the first day meal. He was one of the few guys there who wasn't all depressed."

"There's no need to be upset over my position," Hazama said, leaving his eraser at a forty-five degree angle away from his leftmost pencil, "After the upcoming test, the faculty shall see the egregious error that has occurred, and I will be joining my intellectual equals in Ra Yellow." Seeing that the group was still unimpressed, he said, "How about I prove myself? A pop quiz, perhaps? Me against you in a sort of duel, you could say."

"Oh yeah? I'm not falling for that one," said Naruto, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back in his chair. He narrowed his eyes, "You're the one who brought it up, so I'm guessing you've got one prepared. You'd already know the answers."

"Trust me," the boy said, pushing his glasses up, "I'd know the answers regardless. But very well. I assume that someone like you would have a pop quiz prepared, Misawa-san?"

Naruto turned to give Misawa the stink eye, but the boy genius was already rooting in his bag. "As it happens, I do. I had been hoping to end today's session with it, but I can easily repurpose it for this."

Naruto shook his head. "Unbelievable."

"Surely you're not against this?" Hazama said, folding his arms. "It's only a friendly challenge. Or maybe you're worried that you'll expose yourself as brute with all power and no intelligence."

"Hah!?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Ok, now you've just gone and made it personal, pal."

Asuka shook her head. "Come on, Naruto, you don't need to prove yourself to this guy. No one's going to think less of you."

Naruto turned to her; brow furrowed. "Think less of me about what? Turning this guy's challenge down, or losing in the end because I'm just that dumb? Because that's obviously what's going to happen?"

It was Asuka's turn to narrow her eyes. "Don't you put words in my mouth, Uzumaki Naruto. What I mean is that you don't need to act like some testosterone driven idiot just because some random guy challenged you to something."

"Something that you don't think I can win!"

Asuka rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't think any less or more of you if you won or lost, but keep this up and I just might."

"Oh my, I didn't intend to cause such a drama," Hazama said, pushing his glasses up. "Perhaps we _should_ call this little challenge off. I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your lady friend."

Naruto's brow twitched, and Asuka sighed. Any chance of resolving this with common sense was gone. For that, she looked askance at Hazama.

"All right, let's do this then!" Naruto got up and moved over to Hazama's table, dropping into the opposite seat. One of Hazama's pencils moved from the force, and Hazama's brow twitched. Like a snake, his hand shot out to grab the pencil. He put the stray stationary back in place with careful precision.

Naruto gave him a weird look.

Hazama adjusted his glasses.

"Ok then, let's get this pop quiz started!" Misawa said, a strange enthusiasm coming over him. He stood on another side of the table, between the two contestants. Meanwhile, Yasuhiro watched with a lost expression, unsure how this had come to place. Asuka wasn't even looking, having decided her PDA was more worthy of her attention.

"I will ask each of you a question in turn. If you get the answer wrong, or simply cannot answer it, I will ask the other contestant the question again. Every right answer will earn you a point. To keep this short, the winner will be the first to get three points, and then answer what I consider the most difficult question correctly to win. But be warned, if you get that question wrong then your opponent can take it, even if they don't have enough points. Yasuhiro-san, would you mind keeping score?"

"Huh?" Yasuhiro blinked, knocked out of his stupor. "Um, sure," he said, getting out a pencil and some paper from his bag.

"Very well, I'll start by asking Naruto a question, then Hazama-san, and so forth. Are both contestants agreeable with these conditions?"

"Fine by me," Naruto said, giving Hazama his best game face.

"They are acceptable," said Hazama.

"Marvellous! Then, Naruto, question one!"

"Bring it on!"

"What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen sw—hold on a moment, these are my personal notes!" A tinge of red appeared on his cheeks as he put the paper away and pulled out the right one. "Ahem. Question one; how many types of spell card are there?"

"Easy one! Normal, Quick-Play, Field and Continuous!"

"Is that your final answer?"

"Ye—wait, no, I forgot Ritual. Those and Ritual, that's my final answer."

"Correct."

"Hah, got it!"

"Barely," said Hazama, folding his arms. "If this is what I can expect, then this will be easy."

"Oh, lay off it," Naruto said, giving Hazama the stink eye, "I don't even use Ritual spells, so of course I'd forget for a moment."

"You must constantly forget about your own brain, then."

"You!"

"Question two!" Misawa cleared his throat, a bead of sweat appearing on his brow. "Hazama-san, how many kinds of monster cards are there?"

"Do you mean monster types, the attributes, or the cards themselves?"

"The cards themselves."

"In that case there are Normal monsters, Effect monsters, Fusion monsters and," he glanced at Naruto, "Ritual monsters; and yes, that is my final answer."

"Correct!" Misawa said, ignoring Naruto sticking his tongue out at his opponent. "Question three! Naruto, what kind of cards can be activated in the graveyard during the opponent's turn?"

Naruto grinned. "Easy, Trap Cards can. I've got a Trap or two that can do that."

"Is that your final answer?"

"Yep!"

"Incorrect, Haz—"

"Wait what!?" Naruto leant back in his chair. "How is that wrong?"

"Allow me to educate you," Hazama said, adjusting his glasses. "Trap cards can be activated during the opponent's turn, if the effect allows it, of course, but so can monster cards, again, if the effect allows for it. For example, if my opponent has destroyed a monster like, say, Shining Angel, by battle, then Shining Angel's effect activates in the graveyard, allowing me to summon a Light monster from my deck with 1500 or less attack points. Final answer."

"Correct!"

Naruto's forehead met the table. "Gah, why didn't I know that!? I have a monster that does something like that!"

"Question four. Since Hazama-san answered question three, I will give this question to you, Naruto."

Naruto raised his head, eyes narrowed and fists clenched.

"If I activated the Equip spell Premature Burial, and my opponent activated the Counter Trap Magic Jammer, would I still have to pay the 800 life points cost to activate Premature Burial?"

Naruto stared. He frowned. "Um, no? Because Magic Jammer negates Spell Cards?"

"Is that your final answer?" Misawa said, putting extra stress on 'final'.

"…Yes?"

Misawa's lips twisted down a little. "Incorrect."

Naruto grabbed his head in his hands.

"Hazama-san, same question."

"Yes, because cost does not equal activation." At Naruto and even Yasuhiro's blank stares, Hazama sighed. "Honestly… Some cards activate simply by playing them, but some cards, when played, have a cost to pay before activation can begin. Premature Burial has a cost of 800 life points to activate. It is the activation of the card that Magic Jammer responds to. So, after paying the 800 point cost to activate, Magic Jammer in turn activates, negating the activation of Premature Burial, thus not only have you stopped your opponents play, but you have made them waste a precious resource."

"Correct. That makes three points, right, Yasuhiro-san?"

Yasuhiro shook the shock and awe from his skull, looked down, and nodded.

"The final question. Hazama-san, if you get this question right, then you win. But if you get it wrong, then Naruto will get the chance to win it all."

Asuka snorted at the idea that they were winning anything. She was now looking up from her PDA, curious as to what Misawa considered to be the hardest question.

"If I summon a monster with a Built-in Special Summon, how will my opponent prevent that summon from occurring?"

Asuka winced. It wasn't exactly a _hard_ question, but only if you knew about the more in-depth details of Duel Monsters. She glanced over at Naruto, and winced again.

Naruto just stared; his eyes glazed over. He didn't even understand the question, never mind trying to answer it.

Hazama blinked. "Is that all? Easy, they can't. A Built-in Special Summon, also known as an Inherent Summon, are Special Summons that are either done by game mechanics, or the monster's own effect, and they do not start a chain. There are two sub-types of Inherent Summon, Summon by conditions and by effect that does not activate. The first is covered by all Nomi and Semi-Nomi monster cards, also known as monsters that can't be Normal or Special Summoned, except by their own conditions. The second covers monsters that can be Normal Summoned, and the effects to Special Summon them are optional. The second are also considered Unclassified Effects, as they do not activate, nor are they Continuous Effects."

Asuka could have sworn that there were swirls in Naruto's eyes.

"C-Correct," Misawa said, taken aback by the in-depth explanation. He looked lost for a moment, glancing at Naruto for a moment. He had realised, it seemed that maybe this whole thing wasn't such a good idea. "Well, I suppose this means you win, Hazama-san."

That snapped Naruto out of his daze. He looked down at the table, avoiding eye contact.

"Well, that was mildly enjoyable," said Hazama, going back to his bag and taking out some more stationary. "Now if you don't mind, I've got some more, in-depth, studying to do. I believe you all were about to leave? I'm afraid I might absorb something from the present company that would leave my studying ineffective."

Naruto stood up and started gathering his stuff. He threw his bag over his shoulder and left. Yasuhiro hurried to do the same and follow after him.

Asuka watched him go, sympathetic but also aware that he had brought it on himself. Still, that didn't mean she didn't have something to say to someone else. "You know, you're pretty smart, Hazama-san."

Hazama gave a half-hearted hum, trying to align his ruler with his pencils.

"Pretty smart, a shoe in for Ra, certainly. But with an attitude like yours, you'll fit more in with the majority of Obelisk Blue."

That made him look up. "What do you mean, Tenjoin-san?"

Asuka didn't answer him, for a moment. She took her time to put her own stuff away, and only addressed him when she had turned to leave. "Obelisk Blue is the top dorm in the school for the top students, true. It would be humble to the point of insulting for me to say otherwise. But a lot of my peers are nothing but bullies who lord their status over those in lower dorms. A lot of them only got in because they automatically qualified by attending Duel Academia's middle school branch. Entitled brats who think it gives them the right to belittle others. I'd hate to see someone with the ability to one day be promoted to Blue on their own merits act like them, just because they know more than someone else."

With that said she left. Soon enough, she heard Misawa catch up with her.

"Do you think that I might have messed up, back there?" He asked her, rather sheepish looking. "I thought it was all in good fun, but maybe I jumped the gun a bit."

Asuka sighed. "No, Naruto shouldn't have let himself get riled up so easily. However, he's a bit sensitive about his intelligence. He's not stupid, he just doesn't think sometimes, and he's pretty hot headed too."

"Still, I didn't mean for him to get so down. After all, it was originally meant to judge where he was at for future study sessions. When Hazama-san suggested a contest, I let myself get too caught up in the idea and used the pop quiz for something it wasn't intended for."

Asuka huffed, "Well. I meant it when I said Hazama-san would fit in with some of my Obelisk peers. He was like a shark smelling blood back there. Naruto doesn't help himself, either, getting fired up so easily. Still," she shook her head, "he wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't. He's passionate, and that's one of his strengths, as much as it can be a weakness at times."

Misawa hummed, and gave her a sidelong look. "You think highly of him."

It was a simple statement, but enough to make her cheeks warm a bit. "He might not be the smartest or the most level-headed person, but he tries harder than just about anyone else. I've seen him give Duel Monsters his all over the years; he's not the most talented duellist around, but he makes up with it with sheer effort. How can you not admire that kind of dedication?"

"You don't need to justify yourself to me, Tenjoin-san," he said, smiling slightly. "I might not have known him as long as you, but I saw his entrance exam duel, and I can tell that his efforts have paid off. His perception and ability to see through bluffs and work around his opponents is stellar."

Asuka's brow twitched, thinking back to that duel. She decided not to break the illusion; she knew Naruto well enough that he hadn't even thought about what his opponents face-down might have been.

"Anyway, do you not want to go and see if he's alright?"

Asuka shook her head. "No, he'll cool off soon enough. Besides, I don't think he needs to hear an 'I told you so', right now. I doubt I could say anything that he wouldn't take as one, at the moment."

Misawa hummed. "I can see that." Once they reached a fork in the corridor, Misawa clapped his hands together. "Well, I still have some private study I wish to do, so this is where we part ways for now, Tenjoin-san."

Asuka nodded. That was fair enough, she had stuff to do, too. After telling him as much, the two went their separate ways. As she walked, she thought about Naruto. He'd be alright, she knew. He'd get himself together sooner or later, and she'd be there for him when he did.

* * *

"Naruto-san, wait up!"

Naruto huffed, slowing his pace enough for Yasuhiro to catch up. He hadn't realised he'd been walking so fast. He'd just...needed to get out of there.

"Are you alright, Naruto-san?" Yasuhiro asked, after a moment's hesitation.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto said, glancing at Yasuhiro.

"Don't let that guy get you down, Naruto-san. He's just like Takataro and his friends. Don't let him win!"

Takataro? Oh, right. "You mean Takada?"

"Was that his name?"

Naruto shook his head, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Nevermind...and yeah, you're right. Just another jerk lauding himself over others." His smile faded as he thought back on what just happened. As true as that might be, it didn't change the fact that he failed miserably. Academics might not be his strong suit, but he needed to improve on them if he was to leave Slifer Red.

Maybe he should have listened to Asuka after all...this was a hell of his own making.

"Hey, how about we have a duel or two?" Yasuhiro said, perking up at his own idea. "Studying is only one part of duelling, right? I want to get more practical practice in, too."

Naruto paused. A duel sounded pretty good right now. "You know what, sure, that sounds great. Let's grab our disks."

Grabbing their disks from their room - and ignoring a grumpy Sumi - the two made their way to the bottom of the cliff by the Slifer Red dorm. It was a great area for duelling, out of the way and the crashing waves against the rocks added a real sense of drama to duels.

Wasting no more time, the two declared as one, "DUEL!"

"Feel free to go first, Yasuhiro," Naruto said, waiting patiently.

"Right, draw!" Yasuhiro looked at his hand, thinking. "I summon Pyramid Turtle in attack mode." Pyramid Turtle was, as the name might suggest, a turtle with a pyramid as a shell.

**#Pyramid Turtle - Zombie - 1200/1400#**

"I end my turn," Yasuhiro said, after a moment.

Naruto hummed. "My turn, draw. I activate the effect of SPYRAL Super Agent in my hand."

Yasuhiro gulped. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

"I declare Monster, and if the top card of your deck is a monster card, I can special summon SPYRAL Super Agent from my hand."

Yasuhiro put his hand on his deck. What were the chances that it really was a monster card? Taking the top card, Yasuhiro wilted at the sight. "M-Monster card…"

"Alright! Come on out, SPYRAL Super Agent!"

**#SPYRAL Super Agent - Warrior - 1900/1200#**

"Attack Pyramid Turtle!"

And as the super spy attacked, Yasuhiro realised his mistake.

**#Naruto - 4000#**

**#Yasuhiro - 3300#**

"Ah, why did I put it in attack mode!?" Yasuhiro cried, holding his head.

"Yeah, even I spotted that one," Naruto said, not unsympathetic. "Still, now you know, yeah?"

"Yeah," Yasuhiro sighed. "Oh! But even so, Pyramid Turtle's effect activates!"

Naruto blinked, but then remembered Hazama's lecture. "Oh, is that thing like, er...Shining Angel?" The reminder of Hazama threatened to bring Naruto's mood down, but he shook the feeling off.

"Yes, when Pyramid Turtle is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon one Zombie monster from my deck with two thousand or less defence points."

Naruto whistled. "Not bad."

"Yeah! I summon Skull Servant in defence mode!"

In a flash of light, a kneeling skeleton in a blue robe was before Yasuhiro.

**#Skull Servant - Zombie - 300/200#**

Naruto blinked. Pretty weak monster, right there. Come to think of it, did he know what Yasuhiro's deck was? All he knew so far was that it had monsters. Still, he had something that might help him figure it out.

"I play the Spell card The Inexperienced Spy!" Naruto said, placing the card in his disk. "This card lets me choose one card in your hand and look at it. I choose the leftmost card!"

Out of the hologram of the card emerged a small figure in a trench coat, with a fedora and black glasses. Leaping over to Yasuhiro, the figure grabbed the designated card and jumped back over. Yasuhiro stood, gaping at the surprisingly acrobatic figure.

"Hmm, let's see," Naruto muttered, bending down to look. His face went blank. "Another Skull Servant? So...a Normal Zombie deck?" He scratched his head. "That doesn't really tell me much," he said. Shaking his head, he waved his hand and the small spy ran to give Yasuhiro his card back, who took it, still bemused. "Aight, I'll just set one card face-down and end my turn."

"M-My turn, draw," Yasuhiro said, getting over the bizarre event.

"I activate my Trap card!" Naruto raised his hand, which signalled the card to flip over. "Mind Crush! Send your Skull Servant in your hand to the graveyard!"

Yasuhiro did so, not looking too fussed about it. In fact, he was grinning. "I-I'm not going to complain, Naruto-san. In fact, I'll thank you instead."

"Eh?"

"I play the Spell card, Polymerization! I send the Skull Servant on my field with the Battle Warrior in my hand to Fusion Summon Zombie Warrior!"

Skull Servant and a man in blue armour swirled together in the vortex of Polymerization, fusing together to become a skeleton with a sword, blue pauldrons and a blue shield.

**#Zombie Warrior - Zombie/Fusion - 1200/900#**

"Erm, okay?" Naruto said, looking at the not that impressive monster.

"I'm not done yet. Next I summon the King of the Skull Servants in attack mode!"

The monster looked a lot like Skull Servant, the main difference was its robe was a bit more tatty.

**#King of the Skull Servants - Zombie - ?/0#**

Naruto raised a brow. "No attack points?"

Yasuhiro grinned. "King of the Skull Servants' attack points are determined by the number of Skull Servants in my graveyard times by one thousand!"

"Ah."

**#King of the Skull Servants - Zombie - 2000/0#**

"Ahhh," Naruto blinked. "Crap, probably shouldn't have sent a Zombie monster to the graveyard, now that I think about it."

"Now you know, yeah?" Yasuhiro said, grinning.

Naruto's brow twitched. "Cheeky bastard," he muttered.

"Now, King of the Skull Servants, attack SPYRAL Super Agent!"

Skull chattering, the King raised his hands and a mass of black miasma spewed forth. SPYRAL Super Agent shattered upon contact, and the dark cloud hit Naruto unhindered.

**#Naruto - 3900#**

**#Yasuhiro - 3300#**

"Zombie Warrior, attack him directly!"

With the clattering of armour and bones Zombie Warrior ran, slashing Naruto's chest with its sword.

**#Yasuhiro - 3300#**

**#Naruto - 2700#**

"Damn, not bad, Yasuhiro," Naruto said. "I might start getting a little worried."

Yasuhiro grinned, almost vibrating from excitement. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Draw!" Looking at his hand, Naruto grinned. "Nice!" Putting his new card in his hand, he selected another. "First, I activate the Spell card, The Warrior Returning Alive. This card lets me take one Warrior monster in my graveyard and add it to my hand. Obviously, I'll take back my SPYRAL Super Agent."

Yasuhiro's grin faltered a smidge.

"Next," he said, grabbing the card he just drew, "I summon SPYRAL GEAR- Drone in defence mode!"

Yasuhiro's grin trembled as the little drone appeared on the field.

**#SPYRAL GEAR - Drone - Machine - 100/100#**

"Since it was summoned, I can look at the top three cards of your deck, and arrange them in any order I like."

Yasuhiro's grin dropped entirely as the drone took the three cards.

Naruto hummed as he looked them over. Dissolverock, Book of Life, and Tutan Mask. Nothing that he felt he had to worry about, but Book of Life could be somewhat annoying. Deciding the order, Naruto sent the cards back over to Yasuhiro.

"Next, I activate the effect of SPYRAL Super Agent in my hand. I declare, Trap card!"

Yasuhiro half-heartedly checked, revealing Tutan Mask. "Yeah, Trap card."

"And so, SPYRAL Super Agent returns!"

**#SPYRAL Super Agent - Warrior - 1900/1200#**

"Since SPYRAL Super Agent was summoned by its own effect, it can destroy your face-down card!"

SPYRAL Super Agent shot the hologram card, and Yasuhiro sullenly put Call of the Haunted in his graveyard.

"Next I activate the effect of Drone to give SPYRAL Super Agent five hundred attack points for each card you control."

SPYRAL GEAR - Drone faded into pixels, which flowed into Super Agent.

**#SPYRAL Super Agent - Warrior - 2900/1200#**

Naruto looked at the cards in his hand. If Super Agent had only five hundred more… Regardless, it had enough for this. "SPYRAL Super Agent, attack King of the Skull Servants!"

With a cocky smirk, SPYRAL Super Agent ran forwards and, grabbing the skeletal king by the arm, threw it over his shoulder. It burst into pixels on impact with the floor.

**#Naruto - 2700#**

**#Yasuhiro - 2400#**

Snapping out of his shock, Yasuhiro moved his hand to his graveyard. "W-When King of the Skull Servants is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can either banish another one, or a Skull Servant, in my graveyard and special summon the King that was just destroyed." A Skull Servant ejected from the graveyard, followed by the King, which he promptly summoned in defence mode.

**#King of the Skull Servants - Zombie - 1000/0#**

"I end my turn," Naruto said, grinning at the turn the duel had taken.

"M-My turn, draw," Yasuhiro said, not even bothering to look at the Tutan Mask he drew. "Erm…" Yasuhiro stared at the field in panic, eyes darting from each monster. Looking at the two cards in his hand, he grimaced. "I set one card face-down and play Silent Doom. This summons one Normal monster from my graveyard in defence mode. I choose Battle Warrior."

The humanoid that made up half of Zombie Warrior appeared, kneeling with his arms crossed.

**#Battle Warrior - Warrior - 700/1000#**

"I put Zombie Warrior in defence mode and...and end my turn."

"My turn, draw." Naruto didn't bother looking at his card either, instead grabbing another. "I activate Infected Mail!"

Yasuhiro groaned. It was over.

The duel wrapped up quickly with a direct attack on Yasuhiro's life points, courtesy of Infected Mail's effect.

**#Naruto - 2700#**

**#Yasuhiro - 0#**

Yasuhiro sat down as the holograms faded, heaving a huge sigh. "I really thought I had you there, Naruto-san."

"You kinda did, sorta," Naruto said.

"Only because you made a small mistake," Yasuhiro said, shaking his head.

"Hey, that's part of duelling too, ya know, exploiting your opponent's mistakes," Naruto dropped down next to Yasuhiro and started putting his deck back together. "When I was learning every single mistake I made was capitalized on by the guys who trained me." His brow twitched at the memory. "They didn't like holding back, that's for sure…"

Yasuhiro looked at him curiously. "Trained you?"

"Well, more like they duelled me into submission until I kinda knew what I was doing," Naruto said, huffing. "Then they made me go over every single mistake that I made so I could learn from them."

Yasuhiro hummed. "Like when I summoned Pyramid Turtle in attack mode."

"Yeah, exactly," Naruto said, nodding. "Or when I sent a Zombie monster to the graveyard. I didn't think it would matter because it was a Normal monster, but I should have known that the graveyard was the best place for a zombie."

Yasuhiro looked up, thinking over the duel. "Even so, I don't think I could have done anything differently there. That was the best I could do…"

Naruto shrugged. "With that hand, maybe. I lucked out in drawing both Super Agent and Drone so close together. Getting over that King would have been a lot tougher if I didn't." He sighed. "Still, I could have ended it sooner if you'd had one more card on the field. Shame that Super Agent's effect destroyed your Trap card before Drone could give it the five hundred extra attack points."

Doing some quick maths, Yasuhiro winced. "Ah, yeah." After a minute of silence, Yasuhiro blinked. "Hey, Naruto-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever read Drone's effect more closely?"

"Huh?" Naruto turned to Yasuhiro. "What do you-"

"HEY! NARUTO-SAN, YASUHIRO-SAN!"

The two flinched and looked up. Standing at the cliff's edge was Shou, hands cupped over his mouth.

"DINNER'S ABOUT TO BE SERVED! APPARENTLY WE'VE GOT EXTRA RICE TODAY!"

"Extra rice!? Hell yeah, I'm starving!" Naruto said, jumping to his feet. "And since I won that duel, I get your extra rice too!"

"Huh!? Since when was that a thing!?" Yasuhiro exclaimed. He scrambled after Naruto as the blonde ran off. "Hey, Naruto-san, I never agreed to that!"

"Too bad, so sad!"

"Hey! Ante duels are against the rules, you know!"

"Ahahahahaha!"

Chapter End

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to chat with me or yell at me to do stuff, join my discord server at https://discord.gg/vY7HtRk


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